Astera
by Aerith The Evenstar
Summary: This is a side story for To Dance Among The Skies telling about Jetfire's mother, Astera. This will tell about her life from Jetfire's birth to her death. Now being extended from after Astera's death.
1. Chapter 1

ATE: Hey everyone! If you have read my other story To Dance Among The Skies, you'll know about Jetfire's mother, Astera. This is her story from the birth of Jetfire to her death. Since this is the first chap, this one will tell about Jetfire's birth. Hope you all enjoy!

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><strong>Astera<strong>

Chapter 1

Astera was lying on a berth after the long process of giving birth to the sparkling that was resting in her arms in recharge. Her violet colored optics gazed down at the tiny form and smiled. He was such a cute sparkling and she knew he would grow up to be a fine mech. His overall body was white while his helm was red. The rest of his face was a dark gray color. He also had wings, making him a flyer just like his father.

"Astera!"

The femme looked up when her name was called and she smiled when she saw the mech making his way from the door to her berth. His white armor gleamed in the artificial light of the room, along with reflecting off his wings. His torso was a light gray color outlined with a deep blue (like his wings) while his helm was red. His gold colored optics twinkled in happiness to see her as his face mask retracted to reveal his smile.

"Silverbolt!" Astera exclaimed, completely surprised yet happy to see her sparkmate. "I thought you said you weren't going to make it."

"I thought so too, buy Ultra Magnus allowed me to go on leave to allow me some time to help raise our newborn sparkling." Silverbolt replied, a broad smile on his face in excitement. His gaze fell on the small sparkling nestled in her arms. "So this is our sparkling?"

"Yes. He looks a lot like you. Even has your optics."

"Can I…?" Silverbolt held out his arms and she knew what he was asking her. Astera carefully held the newborn sparkling out to him until he was safely placed in his arms. The sparkling stirred in Silverbolt's arms before activating his gold optics to gaze up at him in curiosity, wondering who the mech holding him was. Silverbolt was surprised to see that his sparkling indeed had his optics. He smiled down at him. "Hey there, little guy. I'm your daddy."

Astera could tell that Silverbolt was thrilled to see their sparkling. She smiled when she saw the little one was reaching out a tiny servo to touch her sparkmate's face. It warmed her spark, knowing that they were finally a family.

"So did you decide on a name for him, Astera?" Silverbolt asked, looking at her.

"I thought I'd name him Jetfire." She told him. "What do you think?"

"Jetfire." He said, seeming to say the name as if trying it out. "I like it. It seems to suit him."

"Our little Jetfire. Out little bundle of joy."

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><p>ATE: That's it for chap 1. I bet you were all surprised to find out that Jetfire's father was Silverbolt. I decided to use the Silverbot (I don't own him) since I wanted to play off the fact that Scott McNeil voiced the character in Beast WarsBeast Machines and that he also voices Jetfire in Armada. Originally, I had made a list of names that I could possible use for Jetfire's father (some being actual Transformers characters while others I made up) and Silverbolt was the working name at the time I wrote this on vacation, but I decided to use him. Again, I don't own Silverbolt.

Please remember to review! ;D


	2. Chapter 2

ATE: I'm so glad I finally finished writing this chap. Good news is that I've gotten a bit typed on on chapter 3, so expect that one to come sooner than this one did. I thank **Diamond White **for reviewing the previous chapter. This one will be a little longer than the last one, but hopefully it'll still be satisfying.

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

The next day Astera was discharged from the medical facility when she was deemed fit to return home with her new sparkling, Jetfire. She held him in her arms as Silverbolt wheeled her towards the exit; he planned on hailing a transport shuttle to get them home. Astera gazed down at Jetfire, his optics deactivated in his recharge. She couldn't help but smile as she wondered what he could be dreaming about. She wondered how he would turn out when he got older, what kind of sparkmate Primus had chosen for him, and what he would do with his life.

She shook her helm to clear her thoughts. Jetfire was just born last night and already she was worrying about his future. Everything was going to be alright, she told herself. She had no reason to worry about the future of her sparkling. For now she would just worry about getting home and raising Jetfire with Silverbolt.

"Stop worrying yourself, Astera!" Silverbolt told her. "You worry too much to the point that it's unhealthy!"

"I can't help it!" She replied, shifting around slightly, but stopped when she realized she would disturb Jetfire. "I'm just worried about Jetfire's future."

"Don't worry. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"But…what if I'm not a good mother? What if I mess up?"

"Astera. You'll be a great mother that even Jetfire could be proud of. I can't believe you're already doubting yourself."

Astera giggled.

"I guess you're right, Silverbolt." She admitted.

"Of course I'm right!" He said proudly. "When haven't I been?"

"We'll, there was that one time on our first date…"

"Okay, so I was wrong when I said nothing was going to ruin it! I didn't expect us to get jumped by an over-energized mech, but at least I managed to get us out unarms AND without losing anything in the process!"

"True. Just remember to leave that part out if Jetfire asks. You don't want to scare him."

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After surviving a ride inside a very noisy transport shuttle Astera and Silverbolt managed to return to their home in one piece. She gently placed Jetfire in his crib inside the nursery she and her sparkmate created when she was merely a few weeks into her pregnancy. She smiled as she placed a blanket over his tiny form, watching as he recharged peacefully before quietly leaving the room with the lights dimmed down.

As she walked into the living room she jumped slightly when she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, only to relax when she realized it was Silverbolt before leaning back into his chest. He placed his lips on her neck as he left a trail of kisses before turning her head in time to have his lips capture hers. She was enjoying herself, but then she remembered the newborn sparkling resting in the other room and pulled away.

"We can't do this right now, Silverbolt." She told him. "Jetfire's still recharging in the nursery. We don't want to disturb him."

At this Silverbolt pulled away, crossing his arms and pouting like a youngling. She couldn't help but giggle slightly.

"Why not? We wouldn't be making much noise. He didn't even wake up from all the loud noise when we were still on the shuttle." He stated.

"I'm just surprised he even managed to recharge."

He did have a point, though. Despite all the noisy Cybertronians on the transport shuttle they were on, Jetfire had recharged through the whole thing as if his audio receptors had been tuned off. She knew that if she had tried to do that she wouldn't be able to since it would be hard to ignore all the noise.

"If we can't have some quality time, can we at least have some high grade energon? _Pleeeaaassse?_"

To add to the effect Silverbolt stuck out his bottom lip while widening his gold optics slightly to express a pitiful look. She groaned, realizing he was giving her 'the face.' He always did this when begging her to do something with him and with a face like _that_ she couldn't refuse.

"Alright, but just a cube." She replied.

"Thank you, love!"

Silverbolt gave her a quick peck before running off to the kitchen to fetch some high grade energon. Astera went over to the couch to sit down, smiling at the fact that her sparkmate was home. She was also glad that she had a family of her own now. Eventually Silverbolt came back with two cubes of high grade and handed her one before sitting down beside her. She took a sip of her cube, feeling the smooth energon going down her throat.

"Primus! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed drinking this stuff."

Silverbolt chuckled.

"Of course you did. You couldn't drink it since you were pregnant."

"But at least we have an adorable little sparkling." She sighed thoughtfully. "Just imagine when he's older. He'll probably be quite the looker, just like his father."

"Hopefully he won't have a swarm of femmes chasing him around. We all know that the only thing stopping them would be the fact that his sparkmate is somewhere out there."

Suddenly they both heard a whimper before a soft crying reached their audio receptors. Astera sprung up, placing the energon cube on the little table before rushing into the nursery where she found Jetfire awake, energon tears leaking form his now activated gold optics. She scooped him up in her arms and cradled him close to her chest.

"Shh… It's okay, Jetfire. Mommy's here now." She cooed.

Jetfire continued to cry and a faint gurgling sound was heard. Her purple optics widened in realization. He was hungry! She carried him out of the nursery as she made her way to the kitchen.

"What happened?" Silverbolt asked in concern.

"He woke up since he was hungry." She told him. "Could you hold Jetfire for a bit? I need to make him something to eat."

"Sure thing!"

Astera handed Jetfire over to her sparkmate who happily took the small sparkling so that she could fix up some sparkling formulated energon. She could hear Silverbolt talking excitedly to him (making sure that his voice was quiet so he didn't scare the newborn), telling the little one of all the things he was looking forward to doing with him, especially flying. She could hear him making some funny sounds which resulted in Jetfire laughing. She finished making the energon before turning around in time to see Silverbolt making a funny face at the sparkling.

"I'm surprised you've taken a liking to him so fast." She said.

"How can I not? He's a little Mini-Me!" Silverbolt said before holding Jetfire up so that their heads were side by side facing her. "See?"

Astera couldn't help but laugh at the resemblance, seeing as how they looked so much alike as they both gazed at her with their gold optics. She came over with the sparkling bottle filled with the energon she made and Silverbolt placed Jetfire in her arms so she could feed him. His small mouth plates latched onto the rubber node as he drank hungrily. She had to pull the bottle away when it got to being almost half full.

"That's enough energon for you, little one."

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Jetfire merely snuggled close to Astera, cooing in a series of clicks and whirrs as she carried him to the nursery. It was starting to get late and it was time for him to recharge. She placed the sparkling in his crib and was about to leave when he started giving off a quiet whimper. She went back over and picked him up, gently rocking him in order to soothe him.

"It's okay, little Jetfire." She told him quietly.

As much as she loved her little Jetfire she couldn't stay here all night. She thought back on the many visits she made to her parents home while she was still pregnant, along with the lullaby her mother had taught her in case something like this were to happen.

_Beyond the sun  
><em>_Beyond the moon  
><em>_There are the stars  
><em>_In the night sky_

_Beyond the skies  
><em>_Among the stars  
><em>_In quiet wait  
><em>_Home Cybertron_

_Rest in peace  
><em>_In my embrace  
><em>_And listen to this lullaby_

By the time Astera finished singing the Cybertronian Lullaby she saw that Jetfire was in a deep recharge. She carefully placed him back in his crib before leaving the nursery for the night.

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><p>ATE: Thanks for reading this chap. Now you see how the Cybertronian Lullaby came into play in Jetfire's life (for those who've read To Dance Among The Skies so far). I'll trying to get more work on chapter 3 and hopefully I'll be able to upload it sometime today.<p>

Please leave a review. ;D


	3. Chapter 3

ATE: Well, what do you know? I updated this story again, and this time there wasn't such a big gap in between updates. I'd like to thank **Diamond White **for their review. It seems that she's the only one whose reviewed this story so far, but she's helped me out in so many ways that I really don't mind. I know this chapter is short and all, but I don't feel like lingering too long in one stage of Astera's parenthood or Jetfire's life, so I'll end up skipping around. But good news for everyone is that not only did I wrote all this today, but I've almost finished writing chapter 4 and will be starting on chapter 5 just as soon as chapter 4 is done. I've done all my writing in a notebook at college (but I still live at home) when I've finished my one class every Mon-Wed (I take the time to write it all in the library on campus where I spend about 2-3 hours in). I hope everyone reading this story enjoys this chapter.

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

PS: There's a little guest in this story, but I have a feeling you'll know who it is when you get to that part.

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

_Jetfire found himself sitting in a dark void with nothing around him. His gold optics watched as his surroundings slowly changed to that of a blue sky with clouds scattered about. And that was when he spotted _her.

_She would always be there-this strange, yet beautiful creature-dancing gracefully on the tips of her toes as she would slowly wave and bend her fair colored arms in arches. The strange light blue material (which reminded him of his blanket) that her body was wrapped up in hugged to her form while another piece of that material was wrapped around her waist, seeming to be flexible as it billowed every time she moved. Her head has these extremely thin wires coming out of it that were a gray colored yellow while her optics were the same color as the sky she was dancing in. There were times she would look over at him from where he sat and give him a beautiful smile; it was instances like these that made him believe she always came to dance for him. Jetfire had never seen such a creature before, so much similar to a Cybertronian, yet composed of organic matter. He had wondered who she was, what she was, and why she danced for him._

_Eventually she stopped dancing, something that surprised him, and started walking towards him. She knelt down in front of him as she gazed down at him with kindness. Unlike the many Cybertronians his creators had over at their home, he found this creature's presence to be something like his mother despite the fact that she was a complete stranger. He held his small arms up to her, clenching and unclenching his servos to communicate with this being since he hadn't learned to use his vocal processor yet. She seemed to understand what he was telling her and carefully picked him up. He snuggled into her as she held his tiny body close to her. She was warm and he enjoyed how she stroked the back of his helm. Jetfire looked up at her face with his wide gold optics as she spoke, but he couldn't understand what she was saying; her words didn't sound anything like the ones his creators spoke to him with and it was almost as if they were foreign. But he didn't care. He liked the sound of her voice._

_She started dancing again, but slowly as to not scare him as she held him close. He felt himself relax completely, her dancing seeming to have the same effect as the song his mother would sing to him and he found himself deactivating his optics as he fell into recharge._

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"Come on, Jetfire! You can do it!"

Astera was kneeling down a ways away from Jetfire as she coaxed him. She and Silverbolt were trying to teach him to walk now that he was 10,000 years old. So far he still had a ways to go. It surprised her how determined he was, though; whenever he fell down he would get back up and continue without complaining. And it was because of that she knew her little Jetfire was special.

Jetfire fell again, but merely got on his feet slowly before making his way to her with cautious steps. He reached his tiny servos out to her as he got closer and she beamed cheerfully as he finally made it to her.

"Good job, Jetfire! You did it!" She cheered.

"That's my little champ!" Silverbolt praised him as he knelt down to place a servo on top of Jetfire's head. The sparkling looked up at him with his wide optics. "You'll be running around this place in no time!"

Astera could tell that Silverbolt was proud of Jetfire. It showed every time he did something with the sparkling. She could only imagine what would happen when it came time for him to fly. Oh, how she looked forward to that day.

Silverbolt got up in order to make some distance between him and his sparkmate before kneeling down again.

"Okay, Jetfire! Come to daddy!" Jetfire turned to face Silverbolt when he heard his name being called and gave him a curious look. "C'mon! You can do it!"

The sparkling slowly started placing one unsteady foot in front of the other as he made his way over to his father. He made it halfway when he fell, but Jetfire didn't cry once and merely got up before continuing. After awhile he made it to Silverbolt, both parents praising him.

"It looks like Jetfire's grasped the concept of 'getting back up if you fall down.'"

"In which way? Physically or metaphorically?" Astera asked.

"Both. Notice how he didn't cry once." Silverbolt pointed out. "It's like he _wanted_ to learn to walk. If that's not determination, I don't know what is."

"You know, Silverbolt? I think you're right."

"Of course I am!"

Astera giggled.

"Don't let it go to your head. I have a feeling that Jetfire might've inherited that trait from you."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with being confident! Winners never quit, and quitters never win!"

"I bet he's going to be just like you."

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><p>ATE: Looks like Jetfire is full of surprises. First he's able to recharge through a noisy transport and now he's learning to walk, but doesn't cry whenever he falls down. I bet by now everyone knows who the little guest was. Well, I'd expect chapter 4 to be up sometime tomorrow, and if I'm lucky I might be able to post chapter 5 as well. It all depends on how much I manage to write.<p>

Please remember to review! Feedback is apprieciated! ;D


	4. Chapter 4

ATE: Hey everyone! Lookie what I have for all of ya! New chapter and a day after the last one was posted, too! My thanks to **Diamond White **for her review! Knowing her, she's going to enjoy this one. Again, I'm doing a bit of fast forwarding so I can speed up a bit. Chapter 5 is in the making so far, so expect that up sometime soon (maybe tomorrow at the latest). Enjoy!

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Astera watched from where she stood outside as Silverbolt was instructing Jetfire on how to fly. It was surprising how fast time went by, and now her little Jetfire was 40,000 years old. She could still remember when she first brought him home from the medical facility. Over the past 40,000 years their sparkling had brought nothing but joy in the lives of Astera and Silverbolt (aside from the few sleepless nights when he woke up crying). Just as she had thought, Jetfire was just like his father, confident. He never doubted himself one bit.

"Okay, Jetfire. Remember that you're capable of flying in _both _bi-pedal mood _and _alt mode. Primus gave you wings for a reason."

_**{Besides great stimulation from a femme's touch.}**_

Astera quietly gasped from Silverbolt's thought.

_**{Silverbolt!} **_She scolded. _**{Just be glad you didn't say that out loud.}**_

"Yes sir!" Jetfire said, giving his father a mock salute.

This earned the laughs of Astera and her sparkmate.

"Jetfire, I've told you tons of times that you don't have to call me 'sir'. You're not in the military…yet." Silverbolt told him.

"I know, I know! I just couldn't resist!" Jetfire laughed.

Astera watched as Jetfire was flying for the first time with Silverbolt. It was funny seeing them side by side in their alt modes, her son being a small Cybertronian space shuttle while her sparkmate was an average sized jet. Silverbolt's alt mode easily dwarfed Jetfire. It made her spark swell with happiness as the two flew around in the sky, doing loops and barrel rolls as fluent as any flyer. This was one of the many memories she decided to store in her memory bank, along with the others. Maybe someday she would copy them all onto a data pad for Jetfire to keep, and possibly show his future sparkmate.

"Mom! Did you see me?"

Astera found Jetfire standing in front of her as he gazed up at her with his gold optics, a wide smile on his dark gray face.

"I did." She told him, a smile of her own on her face as she knelt down. "You were wonderful, my little Jetfire."

She wrapped her arms around her son and he returned her hug with one of his own. He only came up to her waist when it came to them standing side by side. She spotted Silverbolt coming up behind Jetfire and upon noticing the fact that she saw him, he lifted up a single digit to his mouth plate, telling her to be quiet as he got closer. He got closer, and closer, until…

"BOO!"

Jetfire screamed in surprise as he jumped out of her arms. Silverbolt started laughing as the sparkling turned to give him a glare.

"That's not funny!" Jetfire told him.

This only made her sparkmate laugh harder and she soon found herself giggling as well.

"It's okay, Jetfire." She said. "Your father was only messing with you." She stood up and held onto her son's tiny servo. "Come. Let's go inside. I bet you're hungry."

As if to prove her point Jetfire's fuel tank gave off a gurgling sound.

"How did you know I was hungry?" He asked.

"Mother's intuition."

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"Mom?"

Astera looked up at her son as he laid on his berth.

"What is it, Jetfire?" She asked.

"Every time I'm in recharge, I see this beautiful creature. She looks like us, except made of flesh instead of metal. She's always dancing around in a blue sky and I'm watching from ground level of where her feet are."

This surprised Astera. A creature made of flesh? Was it possible that he saw a human in his dreams?

"What does she look like?"

"She has a fair colored body, which is covered in a light blue material." Skin and clothes. "Her optics are blue like the sky, and she has these really thin wires coming out of her head. They're a gray yellow color and they come a little past her shoulders." Eyes and hair.

So Jetfire _had _dreamed of a human! And a femme at that!

"How long have you been having this dream?" She asked, suddenly feeling anxious.

"I don't know. It's been going on for son long that I for so long that I forgot when it started." He told her. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. There's nothing wrong. I'm surprised to hear you had such a beautiful dream." She placed a servo on his helm as she smiled. "No it's time for recharge."

"Could you sing that song?"

"Of course."

Astera sat there signing the Cybertronian Lullaby as Jetfire's optics slowly deactivated as he fell into recharge. As soon as she was done her son was in recharge and she leaned forward to place a kiss on his helm.

"Good night, my little Jetfire."

Astera quietly left the room before making her way to the room she shared with her sparkmate. She found Silverbolt sitting on their berth and she didn't miss the concerned look he gave her. She sat down next to him and he wrapped his arms around her.

"What's wrong, Astera?" He asked.

"Jetfire told me he had a dream of a human femme dancing for him. He said that it's been going on since he could remember." She replied.

"A human femme? You mean to tell me that he's been dreaming of-"

"His sparkmate? What else could it be, Silverbolt?"

"This is shocking. To think that Jetfire's future sparkmate is a human."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing." Silverbolt gave her a smile. "If his sparkmate is human, then so be it. There's probably a reason why Primus made it this way. He's weird like that, you know?"

"Silverbolt!" She giggled at his attempt to lighten the mood. "I don't think Primus would like that comment."

"Oh c'mon! He'd understand!"

"I would hope so, for your sake."

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><p>ATE: Oh, buddy! Jetfire's only 4 years old (by human standards, of course) and already learning to fly. Makes you wonder what'll happen next-<p>

Alpha Q: "Something cool _finally_ happened!"

ATE: O.O Alpha Q? What in Primus' name are YOU doing here?

Alpha Q: Spreading some _good _news!

ATE: ...You do realize you're not in this story, let alone we haven't even gotten to the Energon series yet.

Alpha Q: ...Oh.

ATE: Anyways, please remember to review!


	5. Chapter 5

ATE: *Pauses for dramatic effect* ...WE HAVE CHAPTER 5 NOW! Yay-ness! I'd like to thank **Diamond White **and **Manderss x.x **for their reviews so far. I just realized that I need to work on chapter 13 for TDATS, but I wanted to at least get a few chapters done for this story. Just a fair warning, but this chapter is a sad one (you'll all see why soon). Also there's the appearances of two characters that people might enjoy as well.

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

10,000 years had past since Astera had learned of Jetfire's dream. Astera, Silverbolt, and Jetfire had continued to be a happy family, but that all changed. One day Ultra Magnus had contacted Silverbolt, saying that he had to return to duty. It had been a sad day for her as she and her son watched him leave with heavy sparks.

"I'll come back. I promise." He had told them.

It was with that promise that Astera held onto. Everyday she couldn't help but look out the window in hopes to see her sparkmate flying home, but she never saw him. A few months passed when she felt it.

The pain that felt as if her spark was being ripped out of her spark chamber and torn apart, followed by feeling a void where something used to be in her spark. Her wide optics filled with energon tears as she realized, in her grief, that her sparkmate was offlined! He was gone!

"No…! Not Silverbolt…!" She wept.

Her spark hurt so much, but she knew it was nothing compared to the pain Silverbolt had experienced before he was offlined. She continued to leak energon tears as she clutched a servo to her chest where her spark chamber was located. Why was it that Primus would permit one to have such pain at the loss of one's sparkmate? She suddenly felt cold from the absence of her sparkmate's presence through their connection and she curled up into a ball in an attempt to feel some warmth.

"Mom?"

Astera lifted her head and found Jetfire standing right next to her, his wide gold optics gazing at her in concern. More energon tears fell from her optics seeing how much he resembled his father. Even the concerned look was the same.

"Mom? Why are you leaking?" Jetfire asked. "Where does it hurt?"

She knew he didn't know any better. He was just an innocent sparkling that didn't know what was going on. He didn't know what it was like to have a connection with one's sparkmate. But he would know what it's like to lose someone you love. She pulled him close to her and hugged him.

"Jetfire. Your father…he's gone. My spark hurts because I felt him being offlined through our connection. I can't feel him anymore…" She told him, unable to hide the sadness she felt.

She watched as Jetfire tried to register what she told him.

"You mean dad's gone? He's never going to come home?"

She nodded her head, not trusting her vocal processor to answer his question. As if understanding how much this was affecting her Jetfire wrapped his small arms around her as the news set into his processor.

"My little Jetfire…" She said quietly. "You're all I have left…"

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A few days passed since Silverbolt had been offlined. Astera had gone to the Autobots' headquarters to talk with Ratchet concerning her deceased sparkmate. Upon arriving at the base's med bay she found the older CMO training a young mech. The mech appeared to be 160,000 years old (making him 110,000 years older than her sparkling), his body blue while a red visor covered his optics. She assumed that he was Ratchet's apprentice. Speaking of Ratchet, he must've noticed that she was there since he looked over.

"That's enough for now, Red Alert. You can take a break." He told the young mech.

The young mech-Red Alert, she reminded herself-nodded before walking through a door that was located near the back of the med bay. Ratchet then approached her.

"It's good to see you, Astera. I'm…sorry about what happened to Silverbolt." She could hear the slight grief in his voice. "It's probably been hard for both you and Jetfire."

"It has. I never thought it would be so hard." She said. "I actually came here because of that. Is his body still here?"

"It is, but I don't know why you'd want to know."

"I wanted to make a request that I know only you would be able to do. I was wondering if you could copy the files that are in Silverbolt's memory back and transfer them into a data pad."

"I could do that quite as easily as giving a check up. I'm curious, though. Why do you want me to do this?"

"Because I want to give it to Jetfire someday when he's older. If it's not so much trouble for you, I would like to do the same for myself when I'm gone. That way my son can have something to remember us by and know how much we loved him."

Ratchet regarded her before a small smile appeared on his face plate.

"I can understand why you want to do this, so I'll take care of it now. Come with me."

Astera followed Ratchet through another door located in the back of the med bay and realized that the huge room was where they kept the bodies of soldiers that had been offlined during battle before they were prepared. The CMO went over to one of the berths and she felt her optics well up with energon tears as she saw Silverbolt laying on top of it, his gold optics gray with deactivation from when he was offlined. To her, he looked like he was sleeping, but the gapping hole on his chest told her otherwise. Ratchet started hooking up wires into Silverbolt's processor (and hooking the other end into a data pad) before the process of copying and transferring her sparkmate's memories into the device in his servos. The whole time she had gazed at Silverbolt's face and before she knew it a data pad was placed in front of her face.

"Here's the data pad with a copy of Silverbolt's memories." Ratchet told her.

Astera shook her head.

"Keep it. I want you to hold onto his for safekeeping. I'm afraid that Jetfire might find it if I held onto it." She said.

"I understand." He nodded. "Make sure to take care of yourself. You have a sparkling to raise."

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><p>ATE: Originally the whole bit that happened in the med bay was shorter since it was going t be description and didn't have any dialogue whatsoever (not even the part with the Autobot morgue was in it as well). I just thought it would be a treat for everyone to see Ratchet and Red Alert. Also, something I realized when I was writing this chapter was that I got Jetfire's age wrong. The thing is that for Cybertronians (in this story) 10,000 years is the equivalent of 1 year for humans, so when I said that Red Alert was 160,000 years it meant that he would be 16 years old by human standards. So once I post this, I'll make corrections to chapters 3 and 4.<p>

Please review! ;D


	6. Chapter 6

ATE: I'm gonna apologize in advance for this chapter being short and all. Big thanks to **Diamond White **and **Manderss.x.x **for their reviews. For those who've read TDATS this part of the story should seem familiar. Enjoy!

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

More time passed and Jetfire was now 100,000 years old. It had been difficult at first, but she had managed to raise him on her own for 50,000 years. They were so close to each other now because they had to help each other cope with the loss of Silverbolt. But Astera couldn't help but feel somewhat sad that Jetfire couldn't really remember his father. In fact, he never mentioned his dream that he had of the human femme anymore. Had that dream stop appearing since he had told her? She wasn't sure.

At the moment Astera and Jetfire where sitting at the table in the kitchen drinking energon. She couldn't help but think that in just 80,000 years her son would have no choice but to enlist in the military. She would be lying if she said she didn't dread that day. She knew that day would come, but she wasn't ready to let go of her little Jetfire. Where did all the years go? It was funny. When they say "they grow up so fast" they really mean it.

"Mom?"

Astera looked up at Jetfire.

"What is it?" She asked.

"How did you and dad meet before you became sparkmates?" He asked.

Astera thought back on that day when she had met Silverbolt all those years ago. She could help the nostalgia she felt.

"It happened 10,000 years before you were born when I first met your father. I had been working at the Autobots' headquarters as one of Ratchet's assistances. I was helping him repair the soldiers that were there when your father was brought in with some other soldiers. He had dents everywhere and his leg had been shot at. Ratchet assigned me to work on him and as soon as he saw me he said something that I would never forget."

"What was that?"

"'I think I've offlined and went to the Well of All Sparks.' Even though that was the first time we met, we knew that as soon as we saw each other that we were sparkmates."

"How did you know that dad was the right one?"

At this Astera smiled.

"Even before we're created Primus chooses who will become our sparkmates." She told him. "It's all a matter of finding the one He chose to be your sparkmate."

"But how do you know if you found the right one?" Jetfire asked.

"You just do. You'll know when the time comes, my little Jetfire."

She saw the thoughtful look on Jetfire's face as he took in this information. He then looked up as her with his gold optics.

"I wonder who my sparkmate will be or what she looks like. Whoever she is, I hope you like her!"

"Oh, sweetspark." She laughed. "It doesn't matter who she is, I know I'll love her either way."

Jetfire grinned.

"If I knew what she looked like it'd be easier to find her!"

"You're just like your father when it comes to humor! But you're a little young to get bonded."

"Bonded?" He gave her a confused look.

"I'll tell you when you're older." She said.

Astera was surprised that Jetfire was curious about his sparkmate. Apparently he no longer dreamed of her dancing for him. She was curious as well to know what his sparkmate would be like.

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><p>ATE: And there you have it! Personally, it took me awhile to come up with how Astera and Silverbolt met today as I wrote this. I thought of many scenerios, but the one I used seemed more likely to happen and more realistic than her running into him in a city or something. Plus, it would explain how Astera knew Ratchet in the previous chapter.<p>

Please Review! ;D


	7. Chapter 7

ATE: Okay, this may not be the longest chapter (and is probably the shortest one so far), but at least I updated! Big thanks to **Diamond White **and **Manderss.x.x **for their reviews and to anyone still reading this story. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

Astera couldn't help feeling anxious as she paced around the living room with millions of thoughts running through her processor. She was worried, overly so for her son.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you somehow _managed_ to dig a hole in the floor from all the pacing you're doing."

Upon hearing that voice Astera stopped pacing before looking up, only to find Jetfire standing outside his room. The tiny sparkling she had brought home from the medical facility was now 180,000 years old and towered over her. It surprised her how much he resembled Silverbolt, but there were still some differences between them. Her son was slightly bulkier than his father, but it didn't matter that much. And now he was leaving her.

"Are you sure you have everything, Jetfire?" She asked.

"Mom! You know I don't really need to bring anything with me." He complained. He seemed to realize something since he smirked at her. "You're _stalling_."

She averted her gaze, knowing that he caught her.

"I'm sorry. The fact that my only sparkling is leaving doesn't help, either. I don't want you to leave. If I _had_ a choice I'd keep you here."

"I know." Jetfire came up to her before hugging his mother. "You're not ready to let me go yet, but you know I _don't_ really _have_ a choice."

"My little Jetfire. Where did all the years go?"

"Right past your beautiful optics, Mom." He chuckled.

"You're so much like your father." She told him as she looked up at his face. "If only he were here today. He'd be so proud of you."

"Oh what? The fact that I'm _fighting_ for a good cause, or the fact that I managed to keep _you_ on your toes all these years?"

Astera giggled. Oh, Jetfire! Going around and joking about everything like his father.

"I'd say both." She had to stand on her toes in order to place a kiss on Jetfire's cheek. "Take care, my little Jetfire."

"Hey, don't worry about me! I can handle whatever they throw at me!" He grinned. "And maybe if I'm lucky I might find my sparkmate in the med bay working as Ratchet's assistant!"

"You never know." She told him, knowing that he sparkmate wasn't going to be on Cybertron, let alone being a Cybertronian femme. "I'm going to miss you."

"Aw, cheer up! In 20,000 years I'll be back before you know it!" He pulled away slightly. "Oh! And no worrying about me!"

"You'll understand when you have sparklings of your own, young mech!"

Jetfire chuckled before pulling away completely and Astera watched as her son left to fight for the Autobots. This was going to be a long 20,000 years.

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><p>ATE: So as you can see Jetfire is already leaving to go fight. And no, he's not fat! You can't blame Astera for being worried like she is. You'd be too if your only child was leaving for war. Writing Jetfire in this chapter was easy since his personality is the same as it is in Armada (and TDATS). Remember, he's 18 by human standards. I also wrote chapter 8 today as well, which is sadly the last chapter, so this story is almost over. For those who are aware of what's going to happen next know how the story is going to end.<p>

Please review! ;D


	8. Chapter 8

ATE: Finally finished typing this up while adding last minute stuff into the mix as well. No only will this have Astera's POV, but also Jetfire's POV, but the change between then is sometimes be easily missed since this story is in third POV. I hope everyone likes this.

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada. I only own my OC Astera.

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

Jetfire fidgeted in his seat as he rode inside the transport shuttle that was taking him home after being away for 20,000 years. During all those years fighting alongside the Autobots his leader (and friend), Optimus Prime, appointed him Vice Commander. Hard to believe, right? Slag, even he wouldn't have believed it if he were anyone else. He still couldn't believe it. After all, he had only been there for _20,000_ years. How was his mother going to react when he told her?

'_Don't think about it too much._' He told himself. '_I should be glad that I get to tell her. I have bragging rights now!_'

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Astera was reading a data pad when she heard the sound of someone knocking at the front door. Placing the data pad on a table she got up and went to answer the door, only for her violet optics to widened when she saw who it was!

"J-Jetfire?" She exclaimed.

Indeed, Jetfire stood in front of her seeming to radiate confidence. He gazed down at her with happiness in his gold optics, the rest of his face covered by a gold face mask.

"Hey, Mom! Good to see you, too!" Jetfire replied, sounding amused by her reaction. "Mind letting me inside?"

Astera realized that she was standing in front of the doorway and quickly moved to the side to allow her son to come inside.

"Oh! Sorry, Jetfire! Come on in."

Jetfire walked inside his home for the first time since 20,000 years and she watched as his gaze wandered around the room. His gold face mask retracted to reveal him smiling.

"This place hasn't changed a bit since I last saw it." He mused.

Astera went up to her son and wrapped her arms around him in a huge. She felt him do the same as he held her.

"I missed you, my little Jetfire…" She said, a few energon tears falling from her optics from how happy she was to see him.

"I missed you, too." He pulled away a bit to look at her. "And I just so _happen _to have a bunch of stuff to tell you!"

In no time both Astera and Jetfire were sitting at the table as they each had an energon cube.

"Anything difficult that they threw your way, Jetfire?" She asked.

Jetfire chuckled after having taken a sip of his energon.

"_Anything difficult_? Pft! I was able to handle _everything_ they threw at me, piece of cake! Well…except for the wrenches."

Astera was completely baffled as she stared at her son.

"_Wrenches_?"

"Your audio receptors heard correctly. _Wrenches_. I only went to the med bay once!" Jetfire leaned over the table in order to get closer to Astera as he held up a single digit. "_Once_!" He sat back down in his chair. "And all because I was shot in the wing! Ratchet must have issues or something since he seems to _love _throwing wrenches at everyone. For an old coot he has some deadly accuracy. Either they have a homing device or not, he can throw them far! As in you'd be miles _away_ from him and he'd _still_ be able to hit you!"

"Ratchet _throwing_ wrenching at soldiers? He's never done that when I was around."

"That's probably _why _he didn't. My only saving grace was Red Alert. I'd say he's just as good as Ratchet when it comes to medical skills." Jetfire smirked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Aaannnddd it just so happens that I was appointed Vice Commander by Optimus Prime himself!"

Astera's optics widened in shock. Did she hear right?

"V-Vice Commander?" She sputtered.

"Yep! Vice Commander!"

"My little Jetfire, Vice Commander of the Autobots! I'm so proud of you. I know your father would've been, too."

"Yeah… I bet he would." Jetfire agreed. "One good thing that happened when I was spending my time in the med bay was that Ratchet was nice enough to tell me a bit about Dad. Said I was just like him, too." He suddenly pouted. "But even _after _visiting the med bay once I still haven't found my sparkmate!"

Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door and both Astera and Jetfire's heads shot in the direction of the living room in time to witness someone breaking the glass window from outside. Just then the door was busted open. Both of them got out of their seats and she watched as her son's gold face mask cover his face before whipped out his blaster, and it was only when she saw the familiar purple symbol that she realized _who _had invaded her home! Jetfire fired at the group of Decepticons (there were five of them) as they fired at him. Astera tried to find a safe place to hide so she wouldn't get caught in the conflict. Suddenly pain erupted throughout her body and she cried out as she fell to the floor. As soon as she felt the energon leaking from her chest did she realize she'd been shot.

"MOM!" Jetfire yelled. He growled in anger as she turned back to the remaining three Decepticons, his lips curling behind his face mask. "YOU PIT-BORN GLITCHES!"

Astera was unaware of what was going on since the pain was distracting her. She could hear Jetfire's battle cries as the sounds of gun fire continued to sound through the air. But then everything was quiet aside from her son's tired breathing. She started to feel tired and cold, and she sadly realized why.

She was offlining.

Astera felt a pair of arms wrap around her delicate frame as she realized that it was Jetfire as he cradled her close to his body. His gold face mask was gone and she looked into her son's gold optics, seeing that they were welling up with the energon tears that he was holding back. Her own energon tears leaked from her violet optics as she gave him a sad smile before placing a servo on his cheek. Even now, he looked so much like his father, like Silverbolt.

_Silverbolt…_

"My little Jetfire…" She said, her voice sounding weak. "You've grown up into a handsome mech…just like your father." Astera thought about the human femme that her son had told her he dreamed about when he was only 40,000 years old. She had to tell him, let him know that he wasn't going to be alone forever. "You may not think so right now…but I know you'll find your sparkmate. Maybe not in this millennia or the next…but you will someday. And I hope…that you'll be happy with her…"

"Mom! Don't leave me!" Jetfire begged, his energon tears falling from his optics.

"I'll always love you, my little Jetfire…"

Astera's violet optics deactivated as the hand that was placed on his cheek fell limp. Devastated, Jetfire slowly stood up with his mother's body still cradled in his arms, his legs seeming to have a mind of their own as they led him through the door the Decepticons had destroyed until he was outside. He gazed up at the sky before letting out a loud scream, filled with all the sorrow and anger he felt, knowing that she was gone and wouldn't come back. He had just gotten back after 20,000 years of fighting to see his mother, only to have this happen! First his father had offlined when he was only 50,000 years old, and now his mother! He was alone. He hadn't even found his sparkmate yet, adding to the cold loneliness he felt in his spark.

'_It was their fault!_' Jetfire thought bitterly. '_It was those slaggin' Decepticons' fault!_'

He would make them pay with their lives! All of them! Finding his sparkmate didn't matter anymore. His life didn't matter anymore. All that mattered to him now was taking out the Decepticons. He'd do it, even if he offlined trying, as long as he took as many of them as he could down with him in the process!

With that Jetfire covered his face with his gold face mask as testimony to Astera's death. His mother had been the last one to see his face and now he wouldn't take it off. No one would get to see his face. Not his enemies or his friends and allies. Only if and when he found his sparkmate would he think to show his face again. He activated his boosters before taking off into the sky, his mother's lifeless body held in his arms, as he made his way to the Autobots' headquarters. Maybe Ratchet would do something special while he prepared her body for a funeral. He would hope so.

This pain he felt in his spark; was this how his mother felt when his father was offlined all those years ago. He shook his head. No. The pain was nowhere near what she felt that day. As least she still had him around when it happened. This time, though, there was no one. There was no sparkmate of his own to comfort him, to tell him that they understood what he was going through, that everything was going to be okay, for him to lean on and help him through this dark time in his life. He looked down at his mother's face, which looked so disturbingly peaceful, like she was merely recharging.

"At least you had a sparkmate." He said, as if she could hear his words. "You'll be able to see Dad again and be happy with him in the Well of All Sparks." He felt energon tears well up in his optics, but he refused to let them fall as he released a shaky breath. "I wish I could have that happiness as well."

Jetfire suddenly felt the one emotion in his spark that he never wanted to experience: hopelessness. And he knew why, too. He wasn't going to be able to find his sparkmate. He'd probably be offlined before that even happened. But what if he did find her and the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons was still going on? What would he do _when_ he found her? Would she push him away or the other way around?

As he continued flying, he thought he saw a figure dancing gracefully in the sky. Was he seeing things? He deactivated his optics before activating them again, only to find that the dancing figure was no longer there. What did this mean? Only one word, which sounded like a name, popped up in his processor.

_Skydancer_.

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><p>ATE: This chapter was a sad one for me to write and I had to listen to some sad music in order to get into the mood. Even the angsty Jetfire bit was interesting to write and originally it was supposed to end at the part where he wouldn't take off his face mask if and when he finds his sparkmate. Even though this is the last chapter of this story, I can't help but feel like continuing it after this point just to show how Jetfire tries to cope with Astera's death. Maybe I'll even goes as far as to the beginning of TDATS and include some of the earlier events if anyone wants me to as well. What do you all think?<p>

Please remember to review! ;D


	9. Chapter 9

ATE: Surprise, everyone! I decided to continue writing Astera since I felt that I left it wasn't finished despite ending with Astera's death. I felt like that I probably needed to continue it through Jetfire's POV and show how he managed to cope with his mother's death as he makes his builds his way to the events of TDATS. In fact, I may have to write some of the events from the first few chapters from his POV. Hopefully you all can enjoy this little curve ball I sent your way. Also, there will be the appearance of two characters (one of them being named while the other one isn't).

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada: I only own my OC Astera and anything and anyone that isn't familiar to canon.

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><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

Ratchet heard the doors of the med bay hiss open and turned to see who had enter, but the sight that met his optics wasn't what he had expected to see. Instead of seeing the usual injured soldier that had been stupid enough to get hurt, he saw Jetfire walk in carrying Astera in with a haunted look in his gold optics. He was confused as to why the Vice Commander had such a look in his optics, but upon seeing the condition of Astera's body he gasped, seeing why. She had a hole in her chest and he knew that she had been shot and as he scanned her Ratchet's spark tighten slightly in sorrow.

She was gone.

"Astera…" He said quietly, unsure if what he was seeing before him was really happening. The old mech had known Astera long enough to consider her as his own daughter, so of course it hurt to see that she was offlined.

Red Alert seemed to be almost in the same state as his mentor was. Ratchet guided Jetfire over to a berth so that he could place his mother's body down. The look on Jetfire's face plate (or what he could see of it now that he wore his gold face mask) was similar to the one Astera had upon seeing Silverbolt's dead body for the first time.

"Jetfire…" Ratchet said, placing a servo on the mech's shoulder. "I think you should leave."

Jetfire didn't make any response. The older mech started growing impatient.

"Jetfire. If you don't leave the med bay now, I'll whack you over the head with a wrench, and I knew how much you don't like that!"

Even then Jetfire still didn't do anything, didn't even flinch from the fact that he had threatened him if he didn't leave. He just continued to stare blankly down at Astera. Ratchet saw how it was and knew that he had to get the white mech out of the med bay.

"Red Alert. I need you to help me _escort_ our Vice Commander out of here."

Red Alert and Ratchet didn't hesitate to grab both of Jetfire's arms and start dragging him out of the med bay.

"No! Let me go! I can't leave her!" Jetfire yelled, struggling to get out of their hold. He didn't want to leave. "Mooom!"

Ratchet couldn't help but feel horrible as he heard Jetfire's words. Astera was the only one left in his life and now she was gone. He knew for a fact that the white mech hadn't understood what had happened when he heard that his father had been offline since he had been nothing more than a sparkling, but now Jetfire was fully aware of the consequences of war and how it effected everyone's lives and the loss of his mother was too fresh and too much for him to handle. Which was why they had to get him away from Astera's body.

After much struggling from Jetfire as they escorted him out of the med bay Ratchet didn't think twice about locking the door so that the Vice Commander couldn't get inside. They could still hear him pounding on the door with his servos and he yelled for them to let him back inside. As painful as it was to ignore him they had to.

Now that Astera's body was lying motionless on a berth he took out a blank data pad and transferred a copy of her memories into it. This was what she had wanted ever since she had made the same request for Silverbolt all those years ago. When the transfer was complete he handed the data pad over to Red Alert.

"I want you to place this data pad with the one containing Silverbolt's memories." He told his assistant.

"Will do, sir." Red Alert replied. When he came back he gazed down at Astera's body. "When will you decide to give those data pads to Jetfire?"

"I'm not sure." The older mech sighed. "All I know is that when the time is right, I will give them to him. For now he needs time to cope with Astera's death."

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It was a day after Jetfire had brought in the offlined body of Astera that Optimus had arranged a funeral for the deceased mother to take place in a few hours. He was aware of how much this affected his Vice Commander, considering how he talked so highly of her around him. All of the older Autobots (including himself) and recruits that had been around longer also mourned the loss of a good friend and ally that had once been Ratchet's assistant. Even he could remember having talked to her when he was still training as a youngling.

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Jetfire sat outside with all the soldiers who were attending his mother's funeral. Her body had been repaired so that she looked as if she had never been damaged in the first place. She looked…so peaceful and beautiful even though she was offlined.

'_Almost like she's recharging…_' He thought sadly. '_Mother…_'

He watched as Optimus went up to a podium situated in front of everyone on top of a slightly elevated platform. Jetfire knew what was coming next. Astera's eulogy.

"My fellow Autobots, soldiers, allies, and friends alike. We come here today as equals to not only mourn the loss of just a close ally, but a good friend and mother." Optimus gestured to the platform that was in front of the podium he stood. "The femme you see before you was once known as Astera. Most of you younger and newer recruits might not have known her, but she had once been an assistant to our medical officer, Ratchet. She was also the mother of my Vice Commander, Jetfire." Jetfire's gold optics widened in surprise since he hadn't expected being addressed. "If you would please join me, my friend."

Jetfire hesitantly stood up from his seat and his pedes seemed to automatically carry him to the podium, all the while hearing the murmurs of the younger recruits as they seemed to be dumbfounded. He stood next to Optimus as he glanced at all the soldiers before him, he knew they were just as shocked to learn about his mother. He bowed his helm, unable to stand the looks they gave him, that they directed at him, but it didn't help that his gaze landed on his mother's peaceful looking face. He had to make every effort to keep himself composed.

"Astera was a femme with a good spark. Any Autobot that has been around long enough to know about her would be aware of that. 150,000 years ago she had lost her sparkmate in battle and she did everything she could to raise Jetfire while dealing with the pain she felt. She was offlined just a day ago while Jetfire was visiting her for the first time in 20,000 years. No one had expected a few Decepticons to invade their home that day. There are times when we may feel hopeless and lose faith in ourselves as we wander around in the dark, but someday we are bound to find the light. We must never lose sight of this light, never give up on it. It will always be there, even in our darkest hour. I'm certain that Primus has welcomed her with open arms upon arriving in the Well of All Sparks. Astera will be missed, but we will never forget her or the legacy she left behind in her wake. She will live on in our memories." Optimus bowed his helm. "Until all are one."

It was quiet for awhile after Optimus concluded his eulogy.

"Until all are one." As soldier from the crowd suddenly said.

Jetfire looked up and saw an orange Autobot standing from his seat.

"'Til all are one." A blue mech with red optics and a face mask said next.

"Until all are one."

Soon all the soldiers were standing up from their seats saying the phrase as they said their farewells to Astera.

"'Til all are one…" Jetfire whispered so no one could hear how broken his voice sounded.

Everything seemed to pass by in a blur for Jetfire and he soon found himself alone as he stood before his mother's body laying on the berth. He gazed down at her with his gold optics, his energon tears forming in them, but he refused to let them fall; he refused to cry. Jetfire knew that he had to let go of her, but he couldn't bring himself to actually do it. It was too hard…to painful! He spark ached in sorrow and guilt. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair for him to just see her for the first time in 20,000 years, for one day, only to lose her in the same day he was visiting her! He could've saved her! He had been right there and he could've saved her from the blaster fire, but he…he was too _weak_! She had offlined in his arms, yet all she did was smile as him and tell him to be happy with his sparkmate if and when he found her.

'_If I ever find my sparkmate, I'll make sure to protect her with my spark! Do for her what I failed to do for you, Mom!_' He clenched his servos into fists. '_I'll…make sure that she's happy, that she'll smile at me._'

Jetfire gazed down at Astera and he hadn't been aware of the mech approaching him from behinduntil a servo was placed on his shoulder. He whipped around to discover that it was Optimus, his gold optics showing sympathy towards the Vice Commander.

"Optimus, sir." Jetfire greeting as he saluted.

"At ease, Jetfire. You're my Vice Commander now so you don't need to do that. At this moment I'm not here to talk to you as your leader, but as your friend." Optimus told him.

"Sorry. I've been so used to doing that before you promoted me, you know?"

Jetfire went quiet as he turned back to Astera.

"I know you miss her, Jetfire. Most of us are still devastated by what happened to her."

"I can't help thinking that I could've done _something_, that I could've done _more_ to save her. If only I had known this was going to happen I would've told her to hide or something. I might've been more prepared if I had known."

"There have been times when I've also had similar thoughts as well, especially when it has come to those that have been offlined fighting for our cause. It's even worse when you have to be the one to notify a family in order to explain what happened to their beloved ones."

"Optimus…" Jetfire turned to face his leader.

"You may not have known this, but there are soldiers that look up to you, friends that you can talk to. You need to be strong and stand tall for them while sharing each others hardships. If not for our troops, do it for Astera. I know she would've wanted you to remain steadfast even during these sad times."

"You're right, Optimus. She would've wanted me to do that. Thank you."

"Anytime, my friend."

Optimus started to walk away.

"Wait!" Jetfire called out, causing Optimus to stop and turn to face him. "I want you to know that if and when I find my sparkmate, I promise to make sure that she smiles and do anything and everything I can to keep her happy. I want to be able to protect her from sharing the same fate as my mother."

Optimus' optics seemed to sparkle with compassion upon hearing what he said.

"I have no doubt that you will, Jetfire. But why tell me this?"

"I felt that you should know and be able to remind me if I ever forget it. Whoever my sparkmate turns out to be, I know that she's my last chance at finding happiness in this universe."

"I'll hold you to that, Jetfire."

Jetfire turned back to Astera as he listened to Optimus' receding footsteps. He smiled sadly behind his face mask as he placed a servo on her cheek.

"Mom, if I ever find her, I'll be sure to tell her about you." He said quietly, before pulling his servo away. "'Til all are one…"

With that Jetfire left the area, feeling melancholy. As he made his way down the hallway his thoughts where interrupted by a voice.

"Hey! Wait up, why don't cha?" The voice was deep and sounded slightly older.

Jetfire turned to where the voice came from and was surprised to see the orange mech he had seen earlier at his mother's funeral as he ran up to him.

"Is there something you need?" Jetfire asked, feeling somewhat awkward as he watched the orange mech salute him. He'd never get used to that…

"Not really, sir. I just wanted to talk to you, is all." The orange mech told him.

"Go on."

"I may not know what you're going through and I'm sorry about your loss. It's hard to believe how much your mother has made an impact on the lives of most of us older mechs, including myself, but I want you to know that we're all here for you. Most of us know what it's like to lose a loved one, but if we stick together we'll be able to make it through the hardships."

Jetfire couldn't help the small smile that formed from behind his face mask.

"Thanks for those words. By the way, I don't think I caught your name."

"The name's Smokescreen, sir." The orange mech grinned. "How about we get some energon? I have a feeling you probably need it."

"Why not? I probably do."

Jetfire ended up going with Smokescreen to the rec room, which was unsurprisingly crowded by soldiers. He ended up sitting at a table near the back (since it was away from the crowded area of the room) as he waited for the orange mech to return. Personally having energon was the last thing on his processor, but then he had noticed how low his fuel levels were. So maybe Smokescreen had been around long enough to noticed such things. Weird… Speaking about Smokescreen, Jetfire realized that the orange mech came back with two cubes of energon, but his optics widened when he realized what _kind _they were!

"High grade?" He asked, completely surprised. "You got that?"

"Sure did. The reason being that this is a special occasion that deserves this kind of treatment. No need to worry since I'll make sure you don't drink more than one cue of high grade."

Smokescreen set a cube down in front of Jetfire before sitting down across from him. He hesitated as he stared down at the glowing cube before him. Should he really be drinking high grade at this moment? Jetfire eventually dismissed the thought. What harm could there be in having one cube of high grade? Plus, Smokescreen said this was a special occasion and that he'd make sure he didn't consume more of the better quality energon than what was given him. He allowed his gold face mask to retract and for the first time that day his dark gray face plate was revealed. Grabbing the cube in his servo he started to bring it to his mouth plates.

"Hold it, buddy!" Smokescreen said suddenly. "Before you decide to take your first sip, I suggest we have a toast, just between the two of us." He held up his cube in his servo and smiled. "To your mother Astera and her memory."

"To my mother." Jetfire said. '_And to the sparkmate I'm looking for…_' He added mentally.

With that the two mechs lightly tapped their energon cubes against each other before taking a sip. Jetfire could feel the smooth energon slide down his throat as it left an addicting aftertaste on his glossa. As he drank a bit more from his cube he could feel some of his worries slip away and be placed on the back burner. He greatly welcomed the slight release from his depression, along with the slight buzzing sound he could hear in his processor as a side effect of the high grade energon. He liked how he felt, how the energon made him forget the troubles in his life, and he wondered what would happen if he were to consume more. Maybe it would make him completely forget every horrible thing that occurred in his lifetime, regardless of how temporary it would be. He soon set down his now empty cube on the table.

"There. How do you feel, Jetfire?" Smokescreen asked.

"I feel…better." Jetfire answered. Luckily his voice wasn't slurred and he was still able to think rationally. Or so he believed.

"Good. I'll go get us some regular energon." Smokescreen stood up from the table.

"Actually I was thinking of having another cube of high grade, if you wouldn't mind?"

"I told you that I would only allow you to have only one."

"Aww, c'mon, Smokey! I can handle it! Just one more, that's all." Jetfire insisted.

Smokescreen regarded Jetfire with a concerned look before cycling his vents.

"Fine. But just one more and that's it."

The orange mech walked off before returning with two cubes of energon, one high grade and the other regular. Jetfire thanked him before taking a sip from his cube as he decided to take his time drinking it. After some time passed Smokescreen left while the Vice Commander was left by himself with his energon. Eventually he ended up finishing not only his second cube of high grade, but his fifth cube. On his left were four empty energon cubes and that was where he placed the cube he just finished before picking up his sixth cube. He enjoyed the buzzing sound in his processor which had slowly gotten louder as he consumed more high grade. He knew he was over-energized, but as long as it made him feel better he could've cared less. He started raising the cube to his mouth plates and slightly tilted it forward.

"Don't…"

Jetfire froze and started glancing around. Had someone just told him to "Don't"? He shrugged before resuming to take a sip.

"No, Jetfire."

He heard it again! The voice was feminine, sounding sweet and soft-spoken as they talked. He looked around again, unsure about where the voice was coming from.

"Who said that?" Jetfire asked quietly, his voice slurred from his intoxicated state.

"I did." The voice replied.

So it was coming from his right! Jetfire turned to look to his right, only to feel surprised at what he saw.

"Mom…?"

In response the femme sitting beside him shook her head. It was then that Jetfire realized that she didn't even look like his mother. In fact she didn't even look Cybertronian. Her shape was similar to a Cybertronian femme, but it was composed of some organic matter of sort. She had extremely thin wires coming out of her helm that were a grayish yellow color that seemed to gleam in the artificial lighting of the rec room as the strands flowed down to rest on her shoulders. She gazed up at him with what appeared to be sky blue optics that showed concern, sadness, and sympathy. The armor she wore didn't seem to be armor at all and instead seemed to be made of a light blue cloth (or at least he thought it was). Something about this femme seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't remember what it was no matter how hard he tried as he searched his memory bank. But what he couldn't understand was why she was looking at him with that expression on her soft looking face plate.

"Who are you?" He asked quietly.

"It doesn't matter who I am." She told him. He realized that she was sitting close to him and that she had to look up at him due to her body being shorter than him.

"Okay. Listen, I don't know _who _you are or _why_ you're sitting beside me, but I don't mind having some company while I'm here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just continue drinking my high grade energon."

Jetfire brought the cube in his servo back to his mouth plates so he could take a sip, but suddenly the femme beside him grabbed his arm in order to stop him. He felt a slight shiver slip down the back of his protoform upon feeling the surface of her servos and arms against his metallic one. She was soft, warn, and squishy, feeling so foreign to him, yet something about it didn't bother him in the least bit. He turned his gold gaze to look at her face and could see the pity in her expression. What _was _she?

"I'm human." She said, sounding as if she heard his silent question.

Human, huh? What a strange word. Now that he thought about it, she had been speaking in some weird dialect that didn't sound remotely like Cybertronian at all, but strangely enough he could understand what she was saying to him.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he remembered that this femme was preventing him from enjoying his high grade.

"Don't do this to yourself, Jetfire." Was it just him or did she sound like she was sad? And how did she even know his name? "Don't drink anymore of that stuff."

"And why not?" He growled quietly, his optics narrowing as he brought his face closer to hers in order to make her feel intimidated. Unfortunately she didn't pull her face away from his, not even flinching in the slightest; instead she just kept giving him that same expression on her face and it was slowly starting to get on his circuits.

"Drinking isn't going to make the memories of your mother's death or the pain go away. It'll only make it worse if you continue. She wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

Jetfire froze, his optics going wide at the mention of his mother, imagining her giving him the same look as the femme in front of him was. His optics softened as they started to form energon tears, but he refused to let them fall. Jetfire was slightly surprised when the femme removed one of her servos before using it to cup the side of his face. He wasn't sure why, but something about her touch caused him to respond and he leaned into her servo as if it were on instinct or second nature. What was it with this femme before him and _who _was she? It made no sense!

"Jetfire. You need to be strong so you can deal with the hardships that are to come. I know you'll make it through this. It may hurt now, but you will be able to overcome the pain." She told him.

"Who _are _you?" He asked again, setting the cube of high grade down on the table.

The human femme before him gave him a smile, one that made his spark hum louder in his spark chamber.

"Someone you'll meet someday."

"Jetfire, sir? Who are you talking to?"

Jetfire pulled his gaze away from the femme and straightened up before looking at the soldier in front of him. He couldn't remember seeing the mech before so he assumed that he was one of the newer recruits.

"Uh…no one." Jetfire replied.

The soldier gave him a confused look before walking away. Jetfire turned back to the femme beside him, only to find that she was no longer there. Where had she gone? He didn't see or notice her leave the table at all. Then the soldier's words echoed in his processor and he froze. Did that mean that this whole time he wasn't even talking to anyone? How was that possible? He had felt her touching him, heard her speak to him in her soft voice, and it turned out she was never sitting beside him?

'_She was probably some sort of hallucination induced by drinking too much high grade._' He rational side (or what was left of it) thought. Jetfire looked down at the cube of high grade energon that he never took a sip out of and frowned. '_Hallucination or not, that femme's right. Drinking high grade isn't going to get rid of the pain or memories._'

Jetfire covered his face with his face mask before getting up from the table. Everything seemed to be slowly spinning around him as he staggered slightly, making his way to the door in order to leave the rec room. Maybe he shouldn't have consumed as much high grade as he did since it was affecting his CPU. He must've tripped somehow since he could see the floor approaching, but then his descend stopped when someone catch him.

"Are you alright, Jetfire?" A familiar voice asked him.

Jetfire turned his head to where the voice came from and he couldn't help the grin that formed on his mouth plates behind his face mask.

"Red Alert, buddy! Am I glad to see you?" He said cheerfully.

Red Alert shook his head slightly.

"Over-energized. This was bound to happen sooner or later." The blue mech stated.

"Hey, mind helping me to my quarters? I think I need to recharge this stuff off."

"Might as well. You look like you can hardly stand."

Jetfire chuckled.

"Sure feels like it."

Red Alert helped support Jetfire as they left the rec room and made their way down the hallway. The white mech suddenly felt giddy as random thoughts entered his processor.

"You do realize that you're going to have one massive meltdown tomorrow, right?" Red Alert asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Jetfire said dismissively. "Have I ever told you how _wonderful _you are?"

"I fail to see where you're going with this."

"Well, you're Ratchet's assistant, so you're learning from the best." Jetfire laughed. "Speaking about Ratchet, don't tell him about this, okay?"

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

They soon made it to Jetfire's quarters and Red Alert had to help him get inside and over to his berth.

"Could you tuck me in, Red Alert?" Jetfire suddenly asked.

"No, Jetfire. I'm not tucking you in." Red Alert replied with a straight face.

"Aww. _Pleeeaaassse_?"

"It's the high grade that's talking. And I have some work I need to do."

With that Red Alert left and Jetfire was alone in his quarters. Next thing the Vice Commander knew was that he collapsed on his berth and fell into recharge.

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_Jetfire found it strange how he ended up being in some dark void. What was this place, anyways? He felt completely puzzled as the dark void shifted and changed into a blue sky with clouds everywhere, but then he was surprised to find the femme he had seen earlier in the rec room dancing as she stood on the tips of her toes. The way she moved was so graceful, so beautiful, that he couldn't help being captivated as he watched as she danced and slowly bent her arms in arches. He couldn't seem to take his gold optics off of her._

_Occasionally she looked over at him and his spark seemed to skip a pulse whenever he saw her smile at him. What surprised him even more was when she suddenly stopped dancing and came up to him, giving him a soft smile as she held her right servo out to him as she gazed at him with kindness in her sky blue optics._

"_Dance with me?" She asked, her voice sounding so…pleasant and sweet. _

_Jetfire was at a loss of words as he stared at her. She was asking him to dance with her? He thought about it for a moment and he couldn't help but be reminded of when he was still a new recruit and learning how to dance. The memory itself was one of the few that he wish he could forget completely after having to dance with Side Burn as his partner. Why did he have to be one of the few that were paired up with another mech? But then he reminded himself that it was a femme that was asking him to dance with her, so it wouldn't be like last time. Jetfire placed his left servo in hers and he noticed how much smaller hers were compared to his. In fact, he noticed that she only came up to his chest when she stood. Her digits closed around his as she led him a bit away from where he stood before she stopped. He couldn't help but wonder why, but then she used her left servos and gently took the one at his right side so that it was placed around her waist before reaching her arm up to place her servo on his shoulder. He realized that she wanted to do ballroom dancing (one of the dance styles that he had to learn) and slightly extended his left (and her right) servo out to complete the position they were in before they started dancing. _

_Jetfire thought it was weird how familiar this would situation felt to him. He couldn't recall having done this before, but something kept telling him that this wasn't the first time. Why did he feel like this? Was he experiencing déjà vu or something?_

"_Why won't you tell me who you are?" He asked. He then smirked behind his face mask. "I need a name to go with that pretty face of yours."_

_She giggled quietly._

"_Because I don't have a name." She told him._

"_Huh? Why don't you have one?"_

"_It's because I haven't been born yet."_

_His optics widened in surprise. This nameless femme dancing with him wasn't born yet? Then that meant that she wasn't just a hallucination that his processor made up. That also meant that she _was _a real person or would be someday._

"_So not only are you nameless, but you aren't alive yet." He concluded._

"_That's right."_

"_Hmm… You don't have a name, so I'll just have to come up with one for you. How about 'Skydancer?'"_

_At this the femme gave him a puzzled look._

"'_Skydancer?' Why that?"_

"_Well, I saw you dancing and we happen to be dancing around in what appears to be the sky."_

"_I see." She smiled. "It's a beautiful name." Then she slightly frowned. "Why are you covering the rest of your face?"_

"_Oh… Long story, but I have a feeling you probably know what it is." He told her, looking away from her face._

"_Could you remove it? I personally think you shouldn't hide such a handsome face."_

_Jetfire looked back at her in surprise. Handsome? She thought his face was handsome? He found himself retracting his gold face mask so that Skydancer could see his face. She smiled at him and for some reason they just stood there looking at each other. He was suddenly aware that he was leaning his face closer to hers as she did the same, her breath lightly blowing on his metallic surface while her optics fluttered close. Their mouth plates met and something stirred inside his spark. Why did he feel this way? What was it about this femme that made him feel so…happy? He wasn't sure, but he found that he was enjoying kissing her. _

_Jetfire wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him chest as he slowly lowered themselves to the 'floor' so that they were both sitting down. He tilted his helm slightly to the side so that he could deepen the kiss, his spark pulsed as it sped up and his cooling fans activated. He had never kissed another femme before and he wondered how he knew what he was doing. Was it because of instinct or something? He wasn't sure, but something about kissing Skydancer felt…right! Almost as if she were-_

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Jetfire suddenly woke up, only to hiss in pain as he held his helm with both of his servos. Slaggit! He had such a massive meltdown from all the high grade energon he had yesterday.

'_At least I know I won't be drinking as much high grade as I did…_' He thought.

He tried to recall the dream he had before he woke up, but he frowned when he realized he couldn't seem to remember what it was. All he knew was that it happened to be a very pleasant dream to him. He cycled his vents. He really didn't remember what happened when he was over-energized, but the only thing he could recall was Red Alert getting him here. Jetfire groaned as he realized what he had to do.

He had to get back to work AND deal with his meltdown.

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><p>ATE: I bet you were all surprised about Jetfire suffering through a bit of depression. Did any of you recognize the blue mech at Astera's funeral? Go ahead and take a guess if you feel like it. As I had started at the beginning of the chapter I plan on continuing this story through Jetfire's POV and show his side of the first few chapters of TDATS. This chapter felt like a good way to kick this story back up.<p>

Please remember to review! ;D


	10. Chapter 10

ATE: Hey everyone! I am proud to say that I finally got this chapter done and ready for you all to read. I wanna thank **Manderss.x.x**, **Diamond White**, and **Crystalmaiden62** for their reviews for the last chapter. I know you'll enjoy this one. As a fair warning, due to some of the content in this chapter the rating has been raised to M.

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers or Transformers Armada in any way, shape, or form. I don't even own the references that I make in this chapter that go with the Transformers franchise. Why else would I write this story?

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><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

Ever since Jetfire woke up from recharge with his meltdown he had made sure not to steer clear of any high grade energon when he had to go to the rec room. He wasn't going to drink more than one cube of high grade energon the next time he ever decided to have any. He had learned the hard way that dealing with soldiers as he worked and suffering through it all with his processor hammering against the inside of his helm _didn't _go together in his situation. In fact, it hadn't ended well for him, as in he was forced to go to the med bay, much to his horror since Ratchet had to give him a check up. Involving NEEDLES no less! He could never stand needles after his first injection 10,000 years ago. Fighting Decepticons, he could handle, but when faced with needles he became as scared as a cybercat. But then there _was _a bright side to all this. If finally gave him a chance to think without the constant sounds of soldiers practicing and blasters going off as they fired at targets.

Jetfire remembered a bit of what happened when he was over-energized, mostly about the strange femme (human, he reminded himself) he had thought was a hallucination that the high grade caused him to have. But then there was the dream he had of her dancing in the sky, which had led to him dancing with her, with Skydancer. He could somewhat remember what they talked about (he could recall her saying she wasn't born yet), but what he _could _remember in such detail were the emotions he felt when he kissed her and how it had felt _right_. Was is possible that _she _was _his _sparkmate? He wasn't sure, but he'd definitely have to ask Ratchet about sparkmates.

Funny how Ratchet came into the area he was waiting in carrying a syringe, causing Jetfire to cower in fear as if he were in the presence of someone with the cybonic plague.

"Now, Jetfire. You know I have to do this so you can remain healthy and strong in order to fight the Decepticons at your best." Ratchet told him in what he thought was _supposed _to be a comforting tone. Too bad it did little to set his processor at ease.

"I know for a fact that you're aware of how much I hate those things…" Jetfire said fearfully.

"And _I _know for a fact that _you're _aware that we can do this the _easy _way or the _hard _way. I personally prefer the easy way, which just so happens to be the path of least resistance. Unless you _want _a repeat of your _first check up_."

Jetfire's gold optics widened in fear as the memory invaded his processor. He had given the old mech a hard time and he had ended up being strapped down to a berth in order for Ratchet to inject him with a needle. He gulped loudly, knowing that he didn't _want _to relive _that _memory.

"Fine…" He whimpered, holding his arm out and deactivating his optics before turning his head away so he wouldn't have to watch. "Just do it before I rust!"

"With pleasure." Was it just him or did Ratchet sound a little TOO amused and eager?

Jetfire bit back a yell when he felt the needle go into his arm and he was more than relieved when it was over.

"There. That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Ratchet asked.

Jetfire glared at him.

"Easy for _you _to say." He retorted. Ratchet deposited the syringe in a bin so it could be sanitized later and turned to a monitor. Jetfire took this time to compost himself. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me about sparkmates."

Ratchet whipped around to give Jetfire a look that he would describe as dull surprise.

"And _why _would you want to know about sparkmates?" He asked.

"Well, I…just want to know what to expect when I find mine, that's all." Jetfire rubbed the back of his helm sheepishly.

He never expected the concerned look on the older mech's face plate.

"You're trying to find yours, aren't you?"

Jetfire looked away from the mech, unable to deny what he said. Was it that obvious for him to tell that there was more to what he told the medic? Ratchet cycled his vents before going up to him, holding a data pad in her servo.

"If you want to learn more, then take this data pad with you. It should have all the information you need."

Surprised, Jetfire could do nothing but take the data pad that was being held out to him.

"Thanks…"

Ratchet shook his helm before turning back to the monitor behind him.

"Just get out of my med bay before I change my processor."

Jetfire didn't hesitate and left the med bay as quickly as he could.

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That night Jetfire sat on his berth inside his quarters as he read over the data pad Ratchet gave him. He was surprised by what he learned so far, learning that the dream he had of Skydancer _wasn't_ something unusual. It was mostly when a Cybertronian was in their sparkling years that they had dreams of their future sparkmates, and then would stop at some point before they reach their youngling years. It was rare for a Cybertronian to have them in their adult years, but the chances of the dreams occurring to such individuals during recharge were very slim. Then that meant that Skydancer _was _his sparkmate! The symptoms (or emotions) written down were the same ones he felt when he had been around her, had kissed her. Jetfire couldn't help the excitement he felt now that he knew _who _his sparkmate was.

But then he remembered her telling him that she wasn't born yet and his spark sank as he learned that he'd probably have to wait a millennia, maybe even more, before he could even find her. He would be alone until then. He wasn't sure if he could wait that long to find her, to actually _be _with her physically outside his dream. He deactivated his optics as he cycled his vents.

'_I just hope she'll stay with me in my dreams until then._' Jetfire thought.

Jetfire realized that there was more information on the data pad, finding there was something called the engagement connection, which was a link that formed between a Cybertronian and their sparkmate upon meeting them for the first (in person). The connection starts out being dormant, but once enough time is spent between the two it slowly awakens and the two sparkmates respond to it. Symptoms of any responses between a couple were being comfortable around each other, being able to talk to each other through thoughts (along with transmitting emotions to one another), and the final sign that showed that the connection was fully established was being able to sense if something happened to one's sparkmate. Once the engagement connection is fully established it would remain in place until the two become bonded (which resulted in a slightly stronger version of it).

Jetfire's cooling fans turned on when he started reading the section about the whole bonding process. It involved the sparkmates to go somewhere private in order to be alone and it was there that they interface with each other before having their sparks make contact with each other so that they became one, and it would remain that way for the rest of their existence.

His spark pulse sped up as he suddenly thought about Skydancer and imagining himself interfacing with her caused his interface rod to harden. Deactivating his optics, it took all his willpower to stop himself from moaning as he could feel it swelling up and throbbing uncomfortably against his interface plating. It surprised him how just thinking of Skydancer caused him to feel like this and have the urge to just…interface. It scared him slightly that he had such a strong urge and he suddenly found himself lying face down on his berth grinding his hips into the surface, but all that accomplished was having his swollen erection rubbing the plating. He had to take it out.

And that was what he did. He removed the interface plating and sighed quietly as his rod was released from its confines and he was surprised at how big it had gotten when he looked down at it. He then resumed what he was doing by now grinding his rod into his berth. A quiet moan escaped his mouth plates at the pleasure he felt as he alternated between increasing and decrease the pressure he applied on his hardened rod. It felt so good. If only he could do this with her.

Jetfire suddenly snapped back to his senses when he realized exactly what he was _doing_ and shot up into a sitting position. His cooling fans got louder as they worked harder to cool down his warm body. They weren't working well enough from him and he decided to head into his refresher to take a cold shower. Hopefully that would help him to calm down and forget what he had been doing not so long ago. He stood under the cold water that fell on him as he tried to get his thoughts straight.

'_How could I do that to myself?_' He mentally berated himself. '_Am I really that desperate to find her? I can't just go thinking about her like that yet! I haven't even met her in person yet!_'

Jetfire sighed as he hung his helm.

"I'm a complete and total mess…" He said aloud.

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_Jetfire found himself back in that dark void and he couldn't help the excitement he felt when it changed to the sky as he spotted Skydancer dancing around. He knew that she was aware of him watching her and eventually stopped after awhile before giving him a smile. He was glad that he was able to see her again and watched as she came to stand in front of him. It was then that he noticed her appearance and she seemed to be no older than a youngling (roughly 140,000 years old, he assumed), but he didn't care if she were a youngling. She was going to be his future sparkmate someday, his beautiful Skydancer._

"_It's so good to see you." She said._

"_Same here." He agreed. "So you really _are _my sparkmate."_

"_Maybe." She looked at him sheepishly. "You'll just have to find out."_

"_Y-yeah. I-I probably will."_

_Jetfire looked away from her as he remembered the thoughts he had when he imagined himself interfacing with her and how it had affected him. He couldn't help but be painfully aware of how hard his throbbing interface rod felt as it rubbed against the interface plating covering it. His interface chamber seemed to be too small and his rod felt cramped up from the enclosed space. It was like trying to fit a full grown mech inside a small box with no room to move around or feel comfortable. That's how he felt. He deactivated his optics and could feel himself shudder from the emotions and he did everything he could to stop himself form moaning._

"_Jetfire? What's wrong?" Skydancer asked._

_Her voice! Just hearing that sweet voice did nothing to stop the urge he suddenly felt. He activated his optics, looking at her to see her gazing at him with her sky blue optics. He could tell that she didn't have a clue as to what was happening to him. She was oblivious to how she affected him._

"_Primus! I've never wanted something so badly before!" He said in a strained voice._

_Jetfire suddenly found himself lying on top of Skydancer with his gold face mask removed as he claimed her mouth plates with his. He kissed her roughly as he started humping her leg. He moaned into the kiss at the wonderful sensation and intense emotions he felt as his rod continued to throb painfully. He removed the plating covering his interface chamber to allow his swollen rod out of the small space and rubbed it against her while grinding his hips into hers. Jetfire held Skydancer tremble slightly and a moan escaped from her mouth plates as she opened them against his. He wrapped his arms around her and pull her closer to him as he stuck his glossa inside her mouth. He started going faster, picking up speed as he thrust into her as the pleasure that invaded his processor prevented him from stopping. It felt too good to stop now. His cooling fans were going off as his spark pulsed increased in ecstasy. He felt an intense warmth and he pulled his mouth plates away, letting out a loud moan as he felt the sensation of something rushing out of his interface rod, followed by a sense of pleasure. _

_Jetfire collapsed on top of Skydancer, nuzzling his face in the crook of her fleshy neck and his breathing was heavy as the pleasure he felt started to slowly fade away. He felt exhausted, yet very satisfied at the same time. He could feel moisture soaking a bit of the cloth that Skydancer wore, but mostly near her interface port. He allowed himself to relax, to calm himself down as his spark pulse started to slow down._

"_My beautiful Skydancer…" He whispered. "Thank you…"_

_He felt her press her mouth plates to the top of his helm before placing a kiss. He felt warm, felt loved, even if this was only a dream. Jetfire rolled onto his side before wrapping his arms around Skydancer and holding her close to him. He cycled his vents in content._

"_I wish we could just stay like this forever." He said. "Just you and me in this sky."_

"_I know. But you have to remember that this is only a dream. All dreams have to come to an end eventually." She told him quietly. "And there will come a day when you'll no longer see me in your dreams. When that time comes, you will know why."_

_Jetfire couldn't help the slight sadness he felt from what Skydancer told him, but he knew she was right. Eventually everything came to an end. Even life came to an end, just like his mother. But someday the waiting he would have to endure would come to an end, and he would be able to be with his sparkmate for the rest of his life. If he felt happy being with Skydancer now, then it would be even better when he was with her for real._

"_When that time comes I hope I'll be able to wait for you."_

"_You will."_

_Skydancer placed her servo on his cheek and Jetfire deactivated his optics as he leaned into her hand. He would enjoy the time he had with her before the dreams stopped all together. He would enjoy the peace he shared with her before then._

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Over the past 40,000 years Jetfire continued to dream of Skydancer whenever he fell into recharge, but he started to notice that they occurred less frequently now than they had when he first started having them. He couldn't help feeling worried that his dreams of her were coming to an end sooner than he wanted them to. He wasn't ready for that to happen!

But right now he had more important things to worry about, like the Mini-Cons that were all trying to get together and escape Cybertron. Optimus had wanted to help them escape the war so that the Decepticons didn't get their servos on them. In fact, that was the last thing the Autobots needed in this war. Jetfire thought that Optimus' intentions were good, but he saw that there was a opportunity to use the Mini-Cons against their enemy. But then that wouldn't make them any better than the Decepticons.

'_Talk about being a hypocrite._' He thought. '_We all want this war to end, but the question is how long will it take for that to happen?_'

So he had been able to take down his fair share of Decepticons over the years, but he had yet to satisfy his thirst for revenge against them for off lining his mother. Revenge was his main motivation to see this war come to an end, while the other was that he wanted his future sparkmate to live in peace.

'_When will it all end?_'

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Jetfire had kept count of how many years had passed since his mother's death. So far it turned out to be 69,986 years since that day. The last 9,986 years had left him feeling along since he no longer saw Skydancer. She had told him about this, but he couldn't figure out _why _he didn't dream of her despite saying that he _would _know why. He hadn't felt this lonely since his mother's funeral.

He was sitting on his berth that night with his helm in his servos. When would he see her again? When would he see _his _Skydancer again? He hadn't seen her in so long so of course he was worried. What if something suddenly happened to her to make it so that she never came to exist? If that happened then he'd lose his sparkmate forever! But was it even possible for that to happen when she wasn't created yet? Jetfire shook his helm.

'_I shouldn't be thinking like that!_' He thought to himself. '_Everything's going to be alright in the end. I need to just keep focus on getting some rest tonight. Primus knows just how much I need it._'

Jetfire allowed himself to lay down on his berth before deactivating his optics.

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_Nothing could stop the loneliness Jetfire felt as he found himself standing in that dark void that he had mostly seen for the last 9,986 years. There were a few times where he would either have dreams of victory and peace, or he would have nightmares that mainly involved the memory of his mother's death (where he would try all he could to save her now that he knew everything that happened beforehand, but no matter how hard he tried he could never save her life) or something happening to his sparkmate to cause her demise (with the graphic details being so horrifying that he couldn't stand to recall them). He wasn't sure which one he'd prefer more when it came to choosing the dark void he was in or the dreams and nightmares._

_He felt surprised when he saw the dark void suddenly change to the sky he hadn't seen since the last time he saw Skydancer. Jetfire's gold optics widened. Skydancer! Did that mean she was back, that he would finally get to see her again? A bright flash of light caused his the to raise his arms up to shield his optics, and he was barely able to make out a form that seemed to resemble a femme holding something in their arms before kneeling down to place whatever they held on the 'floor' before the light faded (along with the femme). Jetfire lowered his arms and was surprised by what he saw. Sitting on the 'floor' before him was a human sparkling, wearing what looked to be a pale pink colored one piece outfit. He went over to it, wanting to get a closer look at them. The sparking barely had any gray yellow hair (as he had learned from his future sparkmate) growing on top of their head, but what surprised him was the familiar color of their wide sky blue optics that gazed up at him in curiosity. Jetfire could feel the happiness form within his spark as energon tears started to form in his optics upon realizing just _who _the sparkling before him was._

"_Skydancer…" He said quietly, feeling so happy to know that she had finally been created. That meant she existed. He couldn't stop a single energon tear from sliding down his face mask. "My beautiful Skydancer…"_

_She continued looking up at him, wondering who he was, but that was to be expected since she was just a newborn sparkling. She probably wouldn't even remember any of this when she was older, but he didn't care. All that matter was that she was alive, that he would now much closer to finally being with his future sparkmate. Skydancer held her arms up to him as she clenched and unclenched her tiny servos. His spark seemed to skip a pulse as he realized that she wanted to be picked up. Jetfire knelt down slowly before carefully scooping the sparkling into his arms and held her close to him as held her with care. His gold optics stared into her sky blue ones and she placed a tiny servo (that was smaller than the palm of his larger one) on his gold face mask. He smiled behind his face mask as he knew that she wanted to touch his face plate. He retracted his face mask to reveal the rest of his dark gray face plate and he was surprised at the softness of her organic body as her servo touched his cheek. She was such a beautiful sparkling and his spark swelled in joy, happiness, and love knowing that he held his future sparkmate in his arms._

"_I know for a fact that you'll grow up to be a beautiful femme, Skydancer. And someday we'll finally be able to meet each other and become sparkmates. You probably won't remember this wonderful dream when you're older, but that won't stop you from knowing that I love you." _

_Jetfire sighed in content before deciding to sing the Cybertronian Lullaby that his mother always sang to him as a sparkling._

_Beyond the sun  
><em>_Beyond the moon  
><em>_There are the stars  
><em>_In the night sky_

_Beyond the skies  
><em>_Among the stars  
><em>_In quiet wait  
><em>_Home Cybertron_

_Rest in peace  
><em>_In my embrace  
><em>_And listen to this lullaby_

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><p>ATE: Well, that's the end for this chapter. I'll tell you all right now that the next chapte will cover the event from the first chapter of TDATS, but from Jetfire's POV instead of Valerie's. Thank you so much for reading this chapter and please remember to review! ;D<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

ATE: Okay, so I said I this chapter would also cover the first chapter of TDATS, but I'm actually having it cover chapters 1 and 2 for obvious reason. Anyways, big thanks go out to **Diamond White**, **Crystalmaiden62**, and **Manderss.x.x** for their reviews from the last chapter. Another thanks to **Crystalmaiden62** for the idea she gave me to use in this chapter. Oh, yeah! The beginning of this chapter will cover the events of Episode 25: Tactician from Armada where Jetfire first appears. This will basically be my interpretation of those events, but from Jetfire's POV. Enjoy!

Declaimer: I don't own Transformers, Transformers Armada, or any of the characters from the series. I only own my OCs that we all know _aren't_ in the series in any shape or form beside in fanfiction.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

Jetfire was amused, to say the least as he flew through the dark vastness known as space. He could recall that only a few months ago Optimus had left him in charge of the Autobots back on Cybertron when he left with Hot Shot and Red Alert to retrieve the Mini-Cons that were on a planet known as Earth. As first he had been fine with staying behind, but then the Vice Commander started to grow restless. He knew he was missing out on some good action and he wanted to be a part of it. But then luck seemed to be on his side when Optimus contacted him from Earth requesting that he join their fight in the war, to which Jetfire was more than happy to agree. So that was why he left Cybertron and was flying through space. He grinned, knowing that the others would be in for a surprise. In fact, the others didn't know he was on his way since he told Optimus not to tell them.

But that was when Jetfire spotted a space shuttle flying past the planet (Mars, he had discovered) he happened to be near and knew that it wasn't a Cybertronian in disguise since he could detect a few smaller life forms inside.

"So it would seem that they're a different species. Does that mean they're from Earth?" Jetfire mused. He'd hope so since he'd been flying through space for a long time already. "If what Optimus told me is true about Earth, then the natives don't know of our existence."

With that Jetfire started flying over to the space shuttle, knowing that he would need to scan it so he could use it as a disguise. The shuttle took on a reddish color as he got closer due to the reflecting light that was coming from his cloaked form and could sense that the life forms inside seemed to be panicking a bit. As soon as Jetfire was right above the shuttle he started scanning it, along with its computer as well, causing him to pick up on the dialect the humans inside the craft spoke. As soon as the process was complete the space shuttle flew off. He decided to do the same and flew away as well. Once he was good distance away Jetfire changed into his new alt-mode before getting rid of the light that had been covering him. It was the perfect fit for someone his size. With new excitement he headed in the direction of the planet Earth.

"YEE-HAW!" He let out, activating his new boosters to gain speed.

Jetfire was enjoying his new alt-mode as he sped through space. Before long he spotted a green and blue planet that had a small moon orbiting it. There were even small metal machines in orbit as well in a few places, which confused him. He didn't even know what they were or what their purpose was, but he decided to dismiss it. According to the coordinates Optimus gave him Jetfire assumed that this planet was Earth.

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It was funny, Jetfire mused, how he always seemed to arrive on the battlefield at the most opportune time, seeing as he found the familiar forms of Scavenger, Hot Shot, Blurr, and his best pal, Smokescreen, were in a canyon trying to fight of three Decepticons (he could recognize two of the Decepticons being Cyclonus and Demolishor, but he was clueless when it came to the identity of the third Decepticon). He flew in from the sky while firing at the three Decepticons, which caused Cyclonus to transform from his alt-mode to his bi-pedal form, but Jetfire merely flew over their heads and out of the trench-like canyon. Jetfire could see that Starscream was flying after him as he made his way skyward.

"Come back here!" Starscream yelled, causing Jetfire to smirk.

'_And now the main show can start!_' He thought.

"Transform!" Jetfire yelled out.

From that command Jetfire could feel his body change into his bi-pedal form. He knew that his body now had new pieces of armor from when he scanned that space shuttle he came across in space, but that did little to hinder his natural ability of flight. He spotted Starscream transforming as well and he noted his new armor as well.

"Identify yourself." Starscream demanded.

Jetfire knew that the only reason Starscream didn't recognize him was because they never encountered each other on the battlefield back on Cybertron, but the Vice Commander was fully aware of Starscream's existence, along with the other Decepticons after having done research and studied them. After all, he was also a strategist and he liked knowing who his enemies were so that he could have a bit of an advantage.

"You can call me _Jetfire_, second-in-command of the Autobots." He told the Decepticon seeker before firing his blaster at him, grinning as he watched him fall towards the ground.

But suddenly Jetfire could see blasts being fired at him from behind and he turned around to see a Decepticon that he didn't recognize at all, along with the alt-mode they had.

"No one interferes with my plan." The Decepticon said.

This left Jetfire confused. He didn't recognize the Decepticon's voice at all and he had a feeling that this was one of Megatron's soldiers that he must've overlooked.

'_But how?_' He thought as he blocked the blasts with his shield.

"Transform!" He yelled, transforming back into his alt-mode and flew at the unknown Decepticon.

Jetfire tried chasing after the unknown Decepticon, but that only served to have them both flying around in circles as they tried to get at each other. He knew that this was pointless and flew away. That was when the shuttle mech noticed that below the conflict from earlier had stop and he saw why when he spotted Megatron mostly surrounded by the Autobots, all of them with their blasters aimed at him.

"Decepticons! Retreat at once!" He heard Megatron holler before he saw him warp away.

"What_?_! We're retreating_?_!"

Jetfire turned around when he heard the unknown Decepticon's voice and saw that he had transformed into his bi-pedal form. He took his chance to fire at him, causing him to cry out. Jetfire tried to charge at him, but before he could even get close to him he warped away.

"Transform!" Jetfire stopped abruptly. "Oh, man... And I didn't even get his name. Huh?" He said to himself before turning around, only to smile behind his gold face mask. "Hahaha, well _I'll_ be."

Jetfire flew a bit closer to everyone else before slowly descending to the ground using the thrusters underneath his feet to land right in front the familiar face of his Commander, Optimus Prime. He could obviously see the differences of his bi-pedal form due to the alt-mode he most likely had scanned when he first arrived on Earth, but it didn't change him enough to the point that he was beyond recognition.

"You came in the nick of time, Jetfire." Optimus told him as Jetfire saluted his leader. "Thanks."

"Just doing my job, sir." Jetfire replied modestly.

"Hey, is... that you, Jetfire?" He heard Hot Shot ask, causing him to turn around to look at the yellow mech.

"Hey, _there_ you are, Hot Shot. I'm sorry for being late, but," At this Jetfire held his left arm up as he pointed at the rookie. "better late than never, right?"

"Give the kid a break, Jetfire." Smokescreen said as he took a few steps forward.

"What about _me_?" Jetfire joked.

At this Smokescreen made a face at him and Jetfire couldn't help but grin behind his face mask.

'_Oh, Smokescreen! You never change._' Jetfire thought.

"We missed you, Jetfire." Optimus said, placing a servo on his right shoulder and Jetfire turned to face him.

"You and me _both_!" Jetfire stated, causing everyone to laugh.

Jetfire took that chance to approach Smokescreen, Hot Shot, and Blurr, wanting to have a quick chat with them. Smokescreen had asked him if he'd been having any problems recently (he knew that he was referring to the last time he got over-energized), to which Jetfire honestly told him that nothing happened at all. He looked over at Blurr and he could still remember the first time he saw the blue mech back on Cybertron from the time his mother's funeral was being held. At least he wasn't as overly anti-social as he had been before. As for Hot Shot, it was nothing but casual talk between them. Jetfire could still recall his years when he was still a rookie himself so he had no trouble at all when it came to relating to the yellow mech. Eventually they all had to head back to the base that the Autobot had set up on this planet and Jetfire felt a little excited on seeing how it looked as they traveled their via the warp gate.

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To say Jetfire was shocked when he first saw the human younglings (or children) before him was an understatement. He had thought they would've been the same size as Cybertronians, but instead it turned out that they were so small, almost the same height as the Mini-Cons. How come when he saw Skydancer she had been Cybertronian sized? It confused him completely!

That aside, Jetfire grinned behind his gold face mask upon the kids seeing him since he was a new arrival and additional piece of this war over the Mini-Cons. They asked him questions like 'What's it like to fly' or the comments of how cool he was. It was a good thing he learned Earth's language before he went into the battle he was just in.

Jetfire could feel something in his spark, like some indication. He felt as if he was close to finding something and he realized that it must've had something to do with Skydancer! He remembered the human femme, Alexis, and he guessed that Skydancer would be around her age. After all, he had seen her in his dreams as a newborn sparkling 14 years ago. She had to be on this planet! He just new it!

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The alarm that went off the next day had Jetfire rushing to the control room where everyone happened to be by the time he arrived. He could see Alexis sitting at a human size console as her finger flew over the keyboard.

"A Mini-Con has shown up, but it seems to be…moving!" Alexis announced.

"Moving?" Smokescreen asked.

"But how's that possible? That could only be possible if…" Hot Shot trailed off when his blue optics widened as he seemed to realize something.

"That means someone must have it in their possession." Optimus concluded.

"But, sir!" Red Alert said. "That could also mean that another human will be dragged into our war."

"I know, Red Alert. But we really have no choice." Optimus turned to the kids. "Rad, Alexis, and Carlos. It'd probably be a good idea if you three came along in case a human really has the Mini-Con in their possession."

"Hey! What about us?" One of the boys-Billy, he remembered-asked.

"Yeah! What about us?" The fat boy, Fred, added.

"Maybe next time, you two. I'll need you both to be here if we have a problem." Optimus said.

"Oh yeah? What kind of problem?"

"Well, like in case something changes on the monitor." Optimus turned to look at his mechs. "Jetfire, Hot Shot, Blurr, and Scavenger. I'd like you all to come as well."

'_Alright! Time to show those Decepticons who's boss!_' Jetfire thought excitedly.

The Autobots that were going with Optimus (including himself) went to the Launching Dock and all transformed into their alt-modes before Rad, Alexis, and Carlos (who were wearing orange jumpsuits) climbed into Hot Shot or Blurr (the latter riding inside Blurr while the first two got inside Hot Shot). Jetfire watched as the coordinates to their destination (which was in a wooded area near a park, to his surprise) before they were all warped to the place.

While the others drove out of the warp gate he merely flew out, enjoying the rush of air and warm sunlight on his metal frame. But he knew he didn't have enough time to fully enjoy it since he could see the Decepticons. So it looked like it was Megatron, Starscream, Cyclonus, and Demolishor were chasing after something (or someone since he could hear Cyclonus' maniacal laughter as he fired at them). The Decepticons were headed in their direction and from below Jetfire could see the kids get out of Hot Shot and Blurr before they transformed with Optimus and Scavenger. He decided to transform as well.

Right after Hot Shot transformed Jetfire noticed a human come rushing into the area and he winced when he saw them run right into the yellow mech's leg. By the sound his audio receptors picked up it sounded like the human slammed into him hard. Sounded like it hurt, too. The human landed on their back after they fell, only to let out a feminine scream before scrambling to get away, but ran right into Alexis who seemed to know who they were. So the human was a femme! Jetfire's optics widened when he spotted something in the human femme's hold, but he didn't have time to think about what it was since he spotted Starscream and Cyclonus flying towards him while firing at him.

"Well, isn't this a warm welcome?" Jetfire joked, grinning behind his gold face mask as he dodged the attack. "Didn't think the party was going to be _this _lively!"

Starscream transformed and detached his left wing that turned out to be a sword.

"I don't recall inviting you Autobots, so go crash someone else's party!" Starscream retorted before charging at Jetfire.

Jetfire easily flew out of the way. Now _this _was going to be fun!

"If I'd known you were going to be unhappy with use crashing your party I would've brought some high grade!" Jetfire took out his blaster and aimed at the seeker. "Too bad that this is all I have to offer!" He fired his weapon and watched as Starscream fell out of the sky. "Be careful on the way down! I heard the last step's a doosie!"

Jetfire quickly turned around in time to dodge Cyclonus' attack.

"You may have been lucky taking down Starscream, but I won't go down so easily!" Cyclonus laughed. "Allow me to show you the way out!"

"Aw, but I was just starting to have fun!"

Jetfire ended up dodging the Decepticon's attacks before firing on him. The insane mech screamed as he pummeled to the ground. After awhile the Decepticons ended up retreating and Jetfire flew down to the ground, landing on his feet. He joined the others, feeling good that they won.

"Good work, men!" Optimus said before turning to Blurr (who had the new Mini-Con). "And good job finding the Mini-Con, Blurr."

"I wasn't the one who found it." Blurr stated.

"Oh, c'mon, Blurr! No need to be so modest." Hot Shot joked.

"The human femme found it."

All of them turned to where the human was with the kids before approaching them. Jetfire's gold optics widened in surprise upon seeing the human femme. Her tan-blonde colored hair looked slightly disheveled from earlier as it rested on her shoulders and framed her face. The outfit she wore was different than the one he had been so used to seeing her in, consisting of a light blue shirt with the sleeve coming to rest a bit past her elbows and a white skirt (that came above her knees). He noticed how her small body trembled slightly as she gazed up at them with fear and uneasiness showing in her sky blue eyes.

'_Skydancer…!_' He thought, completely surprised.

It was her! He recognized the face from the countless times he had seen hear in his dreams. He found her! He finally found his Skydancer! His spark pulse increased slightly as he faintly felt it trying to reach out to her. He realized in that instant that he was attempting to create the engagement connection between them. The feeling itself was barely noticeable and he couldn't help but wonder if she could feel it as well.

"Hey, you're the one who ran into my leg." Hot Shot said. So that was her he saw earlier. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Jetfire then noticed the bruise that was starting to form on the side of her face and mentally growled. He suddenly felt protective of her and was tempted to scoop her up into his servos and hold her close, but he knew he couldn't do that. He would probably frighten her even more than she already was if he did that and everyone would question him about his strange (to them) behavior. He watched as she opened her mouth to speak, but no words formed to voice her thoughts. Was she really that scared that she couldn't say anything?

"Are you okay, miss?" Optimus asked, sounding concerned.

Jetfire was surprised when she suddenly glitches (or fainted, according to the internet), landing on the ground that was now beneath her. Rad, Alexis, and Carlos were shocked and worried as they gazed down at her unconscious form. His audio receptors seemed to go mute, his gaze remaining on Skydancer's form as the kids helped load her into the back of Hot Shot's alt-mode before they got in as well (with Alexis sitting in the back while Rad and Carlos sat in the front)

"Jetfire!"

Jetfire turned to find Optimus looking at him with a worried expression.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, sir." Jetfire answered. "Just a little concerned for our new guest, that's all."

"I see. I suggest you come, unless you want to be left behind."

Jetfire complied, heading through the warp gate that would take them back to the base..

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Jetfire stood in the rec room as he was finishing the last bit of energon that was in the cube he held before having his face mask cover his face. He stared at the cube and was suddenly reminded of that day almost 70,000 years ago. That had been the day when he got over-energized and met Skydancer.

Skydancer…

He had to go see her, even if she wasn't awake. Red Alert was probably done tending to her head anyways. Jetfire discarded his empty energon cube before heading to the med bay. Upon entering the med bay he could see that she was resting on a berth with her head wrapped up while the kids sat around her talking quietly. He forgot about them being here. From what he learned, it turned out that the kids knew her since they went to the same school. He grinned behind his face mask, knowing how to get them to leave.

"Oh, hey, Jetfire!" Carlos greeted.

"Hey, everyone." He replied before approaching the berth. "So how is she?"

"Nothing's changed. She hasn't woken up yet." Alexis told him.

"And there isn't much we can do." Rad added.

"Don't you have homework you all need to do?" Jetfire asked.

"Oh man! You're right!" Billy said.

"But what about Valerie?" Fred asked.

Jetfire felt slightly confused, but then realized why he called her that. So Skydancer's real name was Valerie?

"I'll take over watch duty while you guys are away."

His planned worked since they agreed and he helped them get to the floor before they ran off. As soon as they were gone Jetfire walked back over to the berth, kneeling down as his face was leveled with it. His gold optics gazed at her unconscious form on the berth, aware of the fact that she was just as beautiful as she had been in his dreams. It was hard to believe that this was the same femme he'd held when she was just a newborn sparkling. It didn't seem like it was that long ago, but then again it had been 14 years since that dream.

'Valerie'… That was what the kids called her. He searched the meaning for the name, seeing that it shared a similar meaning to the word 'valor'. Valor, having courage especially during war or battle. Jetfire smiled behind his face mask. It suited her. She had just been caught up in their war and had been brave enough to keep the Mini-Con away from the Decepticons when she could've given it to them. Although she didn't seem to have a lot of courage. He had a feeling that she'd live up to her name's meaning someday.

Jetfire's spark started pulsing again, just like it did when he first laid his optics on her earlier, followed by the faint sensation of it reaching out to her. So he hadn't been able to establish the engagement connection earlier. He noticed the faint feeling of something reaching out to the sensation his spark felt and he realized that Valerie was subconsciously responding to the call of his spark. It was as if her consciousness had ever so lightly brushed against his and he felt…complete to some extent. Did that mean the engagement connection had formed between them? It was barely noticeable, but it was still there. He could faintly sense that she was in front of him, so he assumed the connection had been established. Would she be able to feel it or not? How would she react to it? Would she be afraid since she wouldn't know what was happening to her? Jetfire felt a sinking feeling in his spark. He just hoped she wouldn't be scared. He could still remember how she had looked at them with fear in her sky blue eyes from not knowing what they were. He didn't want her to look at him like that, with that fear she felt aimed towards him.

Jetfire shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking like this. Usually he was confident, so why was it that he felt some uncertainty about this? It was probably nothing more than anxiousness. Yeah, just anxiousness!

'_Is this how Dad felt when he met you, Mom?_' He thought.

It was somewhat hard to believe that he was gazing down at his future sparkmate. He smiled behind his face mask. He was aware that he would have to start at step one, friendship, and build his way up before he could tell her about her being his sparkmate. He knew that it would all be worth it in the end.

Later on the kids came back after having finished their homework and (to avoid looking suspicious) Jetfire took that chance to leave the med bay, but then he ended up running into Red Alert.

"Hey, Red Alert! How's it going?" Jetfire asked casually.

"Everything's fine for now." Suddenly Red Alert took on a serious expression. Jetfire mentally shuddered. It was never a good sign when Red Alert had that expression. "You know I'll need to give you a checkup sometime today, Jetfire. And before you _attempt_ to say anything about it, don't even _try_ to talk your way out of this. You know this is for your own good."

Jetfire's optics widened in surprise and he couldn't stop himself for shuddering this time.

"Slaggit…" He muttered. "Of all times, why _now_?"

"Because I want to see if you're performing at normal capacity. After what happened to you almost 70,000 years ago I want to make sure the status of your CPU hasn't been altered in any way."

Jetfire cycled his vents at this.

"Okay, fine. I know you're only looking out for me, but you know that I hate getting checkups. It's not exactly the bane of my existence, but it's close _enough _to it."

"Just think of it this way: the easier you make things for me the easier I make things for you. You'll get out faster if you cooperate."

With that Red Alert went back inside the med bay. Jetfire wasn't sure what to do at that time so he decided to go talk with Smokescreen. It had been awhile since he last had a real conversation with him.

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Later that day it turned out that Valerie had woken up, but had glitched as soon as she saw Red Alert. So that was why Jetfire stood with the other Autobots outside the med bay while Red Alert was still inside, but hiding this time so that the kids could get her prepared to meet them. Soon the door to the med bay opened to allow all of them inside and Jetfire could see the slightly uneasy look in Valerie's sky blue eyes as she looked them all over.

"It's good to see you're awake." Optimus said, being the first in the group to greet her. "How are you feeling?"

"Other than my head, I'm fine." Valerie replied honestly.

"Good. I'm Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." Optimus then turned to himself and the other Autobots that stood behind him. "Everyone, I'd like you all to introduce yourselves."

"I'm Hot Shot!" The yellow mech greeted. "You…literally ran into me earlier."

"Blurr." Was the only response that the mech gave her.

"I am Red Alert, the medic." He told her. "I wrapped your head up, if you were wondering."

" I'm Scavenger. I'm considered a trainer of sort."

"Smokescreen."

'_So now it's my turn._' Jetfire thought when his turn game.

"The name's Jetfire, lil lady!" He told her, smiling behind his face mask. Not that she could see it, of course.

Jetfire couldn't help but smirk when he saw Valerie's face turn red from his comment, but then she recovered before looking around at all of them. His spark swelled when he saw her smile at them and all he could think about was how lovely it was. This was a good sign and he knew that she was starting to trust them.

"I'm Valerie." She told them. "So what are you guys, anyways?"

Optimus took that time to explain about themselves, the Autobots, the Decepticons, and their whole war over the Mini-Cons. He even had her promise not to tell anyone about them at all and she agreed to it.

"Good. Any comments?" Optimus asked.

"This is a bit overwhelming." Valerie said before turning to Alexis, who happened to be sitting next to her. "So are we still having that sleepover?"

'Sleepover'? Jetfire had to look up what a 'sleepover' was and it didn't take him long to find his answer. Oh, so it was basically staying over at a friend's house and sleeping there until the next day. Now that he thought about it, it was pretty self-explanatory.

"Yes, but since you know about the transformers we could have it here instead. Are you okay with that?"

"Am I okay with that? Of course! I wouldn't pass an opportunity like this for anything." Jetfire couldn't help but feel overjoyed that she was agreeing to having her and Alexis' sleepover at the base. Suddenly Valerie seemed to realize something. "Where's my bag?"

"It's right here." Red Alert answered, retrieving a small (to him) bag and handing it to Valerie.

"Thanks. You didn't look inside it, did you?"

"No. Why?" Red Alert brought his face closer to the platform so that she wouldn't have to strain her neck. "Are you hiding something illegal inside it?"

"N-no! Nothing illegal at all!"

"Then what's inside it?"

"Stuff."

Red Alert just stared at her and Jetfire could see her shifting uneasily under his gaze. He knew that whenever the medic gave you that look he expected an answer…a _real_ answer.

"Fine! It has my things for practice."

"Practice?"

Those were Jetfire's thoughts as well. What was it that Valerie was practicing that she didn't want to mention?

"She's involved in an activity she goes to every Friday after school." Alexis said, stepping in to help her friend. "Now I have a feeling you don't want to be coped up in the med bay, so we might as well show you around the base."

It was with that that the kids led Valerie out of the med bay (after getting some help from Red Alert) and soon the others left as well, leaving Jetfire with Red Alert. He knew what was coming next.

"You know what happens next, Jetfire." Red Alert told him.

"I know, I know." Jetfire said unenthusiastically before going over to a nearby berth and sitting on top of it. "First you want me to go over and sit down on this berth I'm already sitting on, stick me with a humongous needle in order to see how my energon levels are, then have me lay down so that you can check my CPU for any problems or abnormalities." He turn turned to look at Red Alert. "Did I get it right?"

"I'm surprised you actually remember the whole process."

"You don't look it. The only reason _why _I remember the whole process is because your or Ratchet forced me into the whole thing after I got over-energized the first time. Let's not forget that this has been going on for almost 70,000 years now. Do your worse, docbot." At the sight of seeing the needle Red Alert brought out Jetfire stiffened. "On second thought, _don't_ do your worse!"

"Haven't you heard the human saying, 'whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger'?"

"Now I have. I don't see how this is gonna make me _stronger_. If anything the needles haven't _killed _me yet, but I get the feeling that they will someday. Just you wait! If I don't end up getting killed in this war, the needles will make sure I do!"

Red Alert then approached Jetfire.

"Quit stalling and let me get my work done. Do I have to strap you down to the berth?"

Jetfire weakly nodded before turning his helm away, and holding out his arm. He deactivated his optics in a futile attempt to stop himself from feeling pain, but as soon as he felt the needle he bit his bottom lip to stop himself from yelling out.

''_What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger' my aft!_' Jetfire thought bitterly.

"Okay. Now I just need you to lay down so I can scan your CPU."

Jetfire complied and carefully laid down on the berth, all the while keeping his gaze _away_ from the needle in his arm. Actually he kept his gaze on the ceiling above him and he could feeling the tingling sensation of Red Alert scanning his CPU. Jetfire wasn't really worried whether he medic found any problems with it or not, he knew that he was fine. He even _felt _fine.

"Scanning complete." Red Alert said once he was done. "It looks like your CPU's doing better since the last time it was scanned and your energon levels are normal as well. Are you doing anything that's causing this?"

"Nope! Just me being my ever cheerful self!" Jetfire told him, grinning behind his face mask. He purposefully left out the part that he had found his sparkmate for a reason.

"You and I _both _know that there's a reason behind that cheerful disposition of yours. You're only using the minority of it as a cover up." Red Alert then took out the needle that was in Jetfire's arm and the shuttle mech was relieved when it was gone. "You're free to go do whatever you want now."

"Oh, thank you, Red Alert! I could just hug you-" That was when Jetfire saw the frown on Red Alert's face. "-_but _I'm not!"

Jetfire practically made a bee line for the door and left. He was free!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Jetfire had been stuck on monitor duty that night. He yawned while staring at the multiple screens that showed every location inside the base.

'_This is complete _boring!' He thought. '_Nothing ever happens during monitor duty and I'm stuck watching _monitors.'

Jetfire checked the time and saw that it was only 6 am in the morning. The others should be awake by now so maybe it was safe to leave now? That was when Jetfire noticed something on one of the monitors and his optics widened in surprise when he saw Valerie exiting the room she had been in with the kids and that she was carrying that bag of hers. He knew for a fact that it wasn't normal for human younglings to wake up this early, so he assumed that she couldn't recharge at all. And it looked like she was heading in the direction of the rec room. He finally made his decision and left the room he was in to find Valerie. It wasn't hard to find her since he could faintly sense where she was, and he was right to assume that she went to the rec room.

By the time he arrived in the rec room he was surprised by what he saw. Valerie was dancing; the same dance that he'd seen her do countless times in his dreams. Jetfire wasn't sure what it was called so he tried to look up what it was called, only to smile when he discovered it was called 'ballet'. So this whole time he had seen her doing ballet in his dreams. Speaking about his dreams, that was when he noticed something. Something about the way Valerie danced this time seemed to be…uncertain, almost like she wasn't confident in her own abilities. This couldn't be right. Whenever he had seen her dance she had seemed so sure about herself, but now that he had actually met Valerie she just seemed to be a bit off. Could something had happened to make her this way? Did it have anything to do with when the Decepticons attacked her? No, it couldn't be that. This seemed to be a problem that had been around for awhile, that he was sure of.

Suddenly Valerie tripped and her eyes shot open. Jetfire could see that she looked a little upset about tripping and watched as she got up and turned off a device she had in her pocket along with the wires that were in her ears. He felt a sinking feeling in his spark when he saw the look of defeat in her sky blue eyes. She was giving up! He realized that she didn't seem to have any confidence at all. She didn't even believe in herself. Jetfire knew what he had to do. He had to help Valerie, starting with her confidence.

And that was why he decided to start clapping. This caught Valerie's attention and she turned to look at him with a surprised expression on her face.

"I didn't know you did ballet, Valerie." He said, sounding amused.

Jetfire went over to where Valerie stood, causing her to look up at him. He watched as her face turned red before averting her gaze towards the floor.

"How long were you standing there?" She asked.

"Long enough to see the performance from start to finish." Jetfire smiled behind his face mask. "I must say I haven't seen something that graceful in awhile."

It wasn't exactly far from the truth, though. It had been awhile since he last saw something that graceful, and that was mainly from the last time he saw Valerie in his dreams (the last time having been almost 10,000 years so far). Her face seemed to get even redder than it was before and he had a feeling that she was a little embarrassed.

"Y-you think I'm graceful?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah!" He answered truthfully.

"I'm not graceful."

This surprised him complete. She didn't think she was graceful? At all?

"What? You're not graceful? You're joking, right?"

"I'm not. If anything I'm a klutz."

"C'mon! Don't put yourself down! Just because you tripped doesn't automatically make you a klutz. How come you have such low self-esteem?"

Valerie was quiet and she seemed to be unsure as to how to answer his question.

"…I don't know." She replied.

Jetfire cycled his vents before he knelt down on the floor. He then lowered his hand and used one of his digits to lift her head up to force her to look at him. Just by looking into her eyes he knew that she truly believed that she was a klutz.

And he was going to fix that. One way or another.

"One way to improve self-esteem is to make eye…err…optic contact whenever you're talking to someone. You seriously need the confidence boost."

"Wait, what?" It was obvious that she was confused by what he said.

He smiled behind his face mask.

"That's right, kiddo! As of today consider me your official self-esteem instructor, or confidence booster buddy. Whichever sounds the catchiest."

Valerie's face suddenly turned red and she tried to look at anywhere but his face.

"Hey, hey, hey! What did I tell you about making eye contact?" Jetfire lightly poked Valerie in the stomach with his free hand and he could help but grin when she started laughing as she placed her servos on her stomach. "There we go! Another confidence boost." He honestly felt like he accomplished something. "That's probably the first time I've heard you laugh."

"Why are you doing all this?" She asked once she calmed down.

"What? Can't a mech help out a friend when they need it? Besides, I'm not just doing this 'cause I was told to or anything. I just felt like it." Jetfire removed the digit that had been under Valerie's chin, but he still remind kneeling in front of her. He suddenly got an idea as he noticed the time. "How 'bout I show you something?"

"Show me what?"

Jetfire smirked.

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise of sort." Jetfire then lowered his servo down so that it was in front of Valerie and she looked at him. He mentally laughed. "Well, get on! I'm not gonna drop you or anything. Autobot's honor!"

"Could I get these ballet slippers off first? They're not really meant to be worn casually like regular shoes."

"Sure thing."

Valerie went over to her bag and quickly switched her ballet slippers for her regular shoes before coming back over to him. He waited for her to climb into his servo and she immediately latched onto his digits as he started lifting his hand as he made to stand up. He chuckled when she tightened her hold as he started walking out of the rec room and into the hallway. He just hoped that he was right about what he was doing. He stopped in front of the doors that led out of the base and typed in the combination on the code pad before the doors opened and Valerie suddenly covered her eyes from the suddenly light with one of her arms as he walked outside. Just then Valerie noticed the slight breeze that was blowing before he heard her gasp.

"The sky…" She said quietly, mesmerized by its color.

"Well? What do you think?" Jetfire asked, turning his helm to gaze down at her.

"It's…beautiful." Valerie then turned to look up at him "Thank you, Jetfire."

"No problem!"

Jetfire couldn't help but smile as he went over to a nearby boulder before he sat down and leaned his back against it. He carefully placed her on his shoulder so that she could get comfortable before turning back to gaze at the sky and morning scenery. Jetfire had to admit that the sky was a beautiful color as he gazed at it.

'_But it's not as beautiful as Valerie._' He thought.

"So what inspired you to do ballet?" Jetfire suddenly asked.

"Believe it or not the sky did." She answered.

Jetfire felt himself smile at this. He was reminded of all the times he had seen her in his dreams and how it always took place with them being in a blue sky with white clouds. But then he thought that her possible fascination with the sky was probably influenced by the time he first saw her as a sparkling.

'_Could that be it?_'

"The sky, huh?"

He turned to look at her and he saw her nod.

"I've always been fascinated with the sky since I was little. I've even wished that I could fly at times."

This only confirmed Jetfire's assumption when it came to Valerie's fascination with the sky. He knew that this was his Skydancer, the same one he'd seen in his dreams. This was her. So he decided to give Valerie her nickname.

"You know what? Just because of that I'm giving you the nickname 'Skydancer'" Suddenly Valerie started laughing, which caused Jetfire to feel confused. "What's so funny?"

"When I was little there used to be these toys called 'Sky Dancers'." Valerie explained after calming down. "It consisted of a doll dressed up as a ballerina with wings made out of foam on its arms and a base with a pull string. The doll was placed on the base and when you pulled the string it launched the doll into the air while the wings were used like a propeller as it spun."

Jetfire looked up 'Sky Dancers' and saw that Valerie was right. He mentally laughed at this.

"That gives me all the more reason to call you Skydancer now. Personally, I think it suits you."

He saw her face turn red again, but he couldn't help but wonder why she kept reacting this way. He looked it up and found out that this was something normal that humans went through when they were either blush from being embarrassed, ashamed, or being in love. Was it possible?

'_No. Not yet._' Jetfire thought, turning to look back at the sky. '_She hasn't realized what she's feeling yet._'

"Can I ask a question?" Valerie suddenly asked.

"You just did." Jetfire joked.

This caused her to giggle slighly.

"You're able to fly, right?"

He grinned.

"I'm called _Jet_fire for a reason, you know. And it's not just for the kicks."

"What's it like to be able to fly?"

"It's quite fun, actually. It's definitely a lot better than just walking around to get from one place to another. And I'm the only Autobot here that can fly." He turned his helm to look at her and he felt his spark swell in happiness when he saw her smile. "Maybe sometime I'll take you flying. How does that sound?"

"Really? You'd do that?" Valerie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Why not? You said so yourself that you wish you could fly. It's the least I can do."

"That's so nice of you, Jetfire."

"Well, I just so happen to be a nice guy. Now let's get you back inside before the others wonder where you are."

Jetfire wrapped his servo around Valerie and lifted her up as he got up from where he was sitting on the ground. With the smile had formed behind his gold face mask Jetfire went inside. He knew that he had finally found his sparkmate.

His Skydancer.

* * *

><p>ATE: Okay, that's it for now. I'm actually thinking that this story might be over in the next chapter (the events of chapter 3 from TDATS) or in the one after that (chapter 4 of TDATS). I think either one of those will be a good place to end this story since we all know what happens in those chapters along with the rest of the story. There's only so much I can do with this story now since it was originally the backstory for Jetfire's mother.<p>

Anyways, please remember to review! ;D


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